Confessions of a Teenage Mutant Hybrid
by ChetCheerio
Summary: Max is about to turn sixteen. Without the constant threat of Itex, she's beginning to see things in herself and the others that she never had time to see before. Can she admit her feelings to herself and to the boy she loves? FAX!
1. WAKE UP!

**Okey-dokey, this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter Maximum Ride story. I got some good feedback on my oneshot for the series, so I decided to try my hand at an ongoing story for these books. I love Maximum Ride so much, and think James Patterson is a total genius for coming up with this.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Maximum Ride. I really wish I did, though, so if you're reading this JP, please let me buy the series from you. I can pay you! Let's see what I have to give you... *rummaging through pockets* Hmm... would you take a gum wrapper and a dollar bill?**

**So, yeah, I don't own Maximum Ride. Wish I did, but I don't, so I'll stick to writing fanfictions for now until I can save up enough money to buy it from JP.**

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"Max!"

I heard my name practically being screamed into my ear, but I didn't so much as flinch. I was way too tired. Besides, I was used to Nudge's loud voice.

"Max, wake up! Do you know what day it is? It's Christmas! I love Christmas! There are so many presents, and I love all the lights! Do you like the Christmas tree? I think it's too red this year. We should've put more purple decorations. I love purple. Ooh, I wonder if I got anything purple for one of my presents. I bet I did. One of my top wish list items was this shirt I saw at Old Navy. It was purple and had sparkles all over it. It was soooo cool. Hey Max, what do you think you're going to get for Christmas? Do you think you're going to get something special? I bet you will. I mean, it's going to be your Sweet 16 soon, and you deserve something special. I didn't have much money, so I couldn't get you something big, but I hope you like what I got you. Max, aren't you up yet? Get up! Maaaax!"

She shouted the last part, and I pulled my pillow over my ears. I did _not_ want to get up. I'd been up until midnight last night getting the rest of the Flock presents, and it was only six in the morning.

"Go away," I murmured, pulling the pillow tighter in preparation for Nudge's next onslaught. "Leave me alone."

"Come on, Max. Get up already! Jeez, it's already six in the morning. It's so late. Aren't you going to get up at all? I saw some presents under the tree with your name on them."

I pulled the pillow off my head and propped up on one elbow, looking at her. It was time to have some fun.

"Nudge, how would you know that? Were you peeking under the tree again? You know what the punishment for that is, right?"

Nudge actually looked scared. "Um… no. What is it?"

I grinned evilly. "Well, you'd be locked in a closet with Gazzy after he has a few tacos with Iggy's special hot sauce." She turned pale; it was common knowledge that Gazzy's farts were especially disgusting and smelly after a dose of Iggy's hot sauce. "But that's only if you peeked," I continued, winking lazily at her.

She ran from the door, and I smirked. There was nothing more effective at scaring off Nudge then the threat of being locked in a confined space with the Gasman. Ah… sometimes living with a bird kid that had digestive problems had its advantages.

I sighed and swung my legs over the side of my bed, stretching. There was no point in trying to get back to sleep; Nudge was probably telling the other younger kids about how I wouldn't get up, and they'd probably come pounding down the hall any time now. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a hoodie, I locked myself in the bathroom across the hall from my room and changed, tossing the dirty clothes into the laundry basket. The basket was filling up; I made a mental note to do the laundry later.

When I finally trudged downstairs, I saw that everyone else was up. Except Fang; he was probably still asleep. I don't think any of the younger kids, not even Iggy, had the courage to mess with him when he got up in the mornings after a sleepless night. How did I know he hadn't slept last night? Well, let's just say he came with me when I got the presents, and surprisingly he stayed up later. Why? I don't know.

"Hey Max! Looks like you're finally up," Iggy said, coming in from the kitchen while he wiped his hands on a dishtowel. My mouth began to water as I smelt the delicious scent of Iggy's eggs and his special orange ham. **(A/N: My dad makes this recipe. It's soooo good. You cook ham in orange juice, and the orange flavor soaks into the meat. It's utterly delicious)**

"Yeah, I guess I am. Though not by choice," I muttered under my breath as I leaned against the doorframe. The kids looked ready to snap; they kept looking at the Christmas tree, then at me, then at the hallway that led to Fang's room. They knew they couldn't open their presents without him, but none of them wanted to wake him up.

"Okay, guys. Here's the deal. I'll go wake up Fang, but I'll need a helper. Any volunteers?" I looked at each of them; they all seemed willing now that they'd be able to blame it on me later. Figures.

"I'll go!" Angel said, hopping up off the chair she had been sitting on. She followed me as I made my way toward Fang's room, tiptoeing so I didn't make any noise. Seeing as I was going to be blamed later, I might as well enjoy it.

When my hand was on the doorknob, I looked at Angel. "One…" I whispered. She caught on to the plan and grinned widely.

"Two…" she whispered as I began to turn the knob slowly. I could hear Fang snoring quietly inside. This was going to be hilarious.

"Three!" I flung open the door, and we both rushed inside.

"WAKE UP!!" we screamed together.

I think Fang's reaction was probably the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. As soon as we barged in the door and screamed, he went toppling off his bed, his wings unfurling on their own accord and a small "Oof!" could be heard when he hit the ground. His face was priceless; his eyes were wide, his expression completely surprised and startled as he fell off the bed. He'd probably tried to assume fighting position before realizing that he was actually sleeping in his bed and in practically no danger.

I peeked around his bed to see him lying on the floor, rubbing his head with his wings lying limply on the floor on either side of him. He glared up at me, and I couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped my lips. It was hilarious to see Mr. Tough sitting on the floor, rubbing his head in the manner of a five-year-old who had just fallen off the swing at the park.

"You okay?" I asked, offering him a hand. He begrudging took it with a scowl.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That wasn't funny." He straightened his shirt and dusted off his pajama pants by habit. I guess sleeping in the dirt for a few months when you're on the run from evil scientists makes you develop all kinds of stupid habits.

"Yes it was," Angel piped up, giggling as she came over to us. "That was so funny!"

"Yeah, for you." Fang glared at me. "I'll get you for that later, Max."

I held my hands up in surrender. "Blame it on the little kids. They wanted me to get you up so that they could open their presents. It's Christmas, remember?"

"And you know the rule," Angel practically sang, skipping to the door. "We can't open presents on Christmas without every Flock member being present."

"Exactly. So drop it for now and try to enjoy yourself. It's Christmas! Be happy!"

"Yeah, that's really one of my defining traits." Fang rolled his eyes, and I stuck my tongue out at him. I know, it's not very mature, but hey, I'm only fifteen! Give me a break!

"Seriously though," I said over my shoulder as I followed Angel to the door. "Hurry up and get dressed. I'm not going to save you from the wrath of the little kids if you don't show."

He smirked and grabbed a shirt from his closet, closing his door behind me as Angel and I went to the hallway. I heard movement from inside, and satisfied that he was going to come down to the living room I went back to the others with Angel.

I swear, those kids were crawling the walls. I mean, even Iggy was completely siked. Sure, I was excited and looking forward to opening my presents, but these kids were practically vibrating with apprehension. When Fang finally came down, brushing his shaggy bangs from his face, three over-excited bird kids tackled him, sending him sprawling on the floor.

"What took you so long?" Nudge wailed, scrambling to her feet after untangling herself from Gazzy, who had landed on top of her in the heap of four bodies that was the majority of my Flock. Iggy was chuckling on the couch; Angel had probably sent him a mental picture of the four of them on the floor. Everyone one of them was laughing, even Fang; even I was laughing, and I wasn't even involved. I was clutching my stomach, tears flowing from my eyes as I laughed my guts out. It was just _so_ funny, watching all of them trying to untangle themselves and get up; Angel tripped as her shoe caught on her brother's legs, and Nudge in turn tripped over her. Fang was the wise one; he stayed sitting on the ground until everyone else was up and stable, and then he rose and sat on the couch next to Iggy.

"C'mon, Max," Gazzy whined, hopping up and down on the loveseat beside Angel. Both of them looked ready to just dive under the Christmas tree in the corner and tackle the boxes of presents. "Can we open them? Pleeeeease?"

"Since you said 'please'," I said, grabbing a box with a tag addressed to him and throwing it toward him. He caught it in midair with a loud whoop, his grin huge.

"Present time!"

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**I know the Christmas theme is a little out of season, but when I got the idea for this it started with them getting their presents at Christmas, and I developed it from there. Hope you enjoyed, and please review!**


	2. Ah, Sweet Memories

**I would like to thank all of my reviewers: you guys rock!**

**To Randomitis Sufferer: well, to answer your question, this happens after TFW and they live outside of Seattle now. Hope this clears up anything that confused you.**

**Now on with the story!**

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A word of advice: never get between three over-excited bird kids and their Christmas presents. Just something you might want to know. I swear, Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel literally ripped apart the boxes and paper to get to their presents. They were as bad as rabid werewolves, and trust me, I know what I'm talking about.

"Dude, no way!" Gazzy yelled, staring in shock at his present. "A bomb-making book? Max, I know you didn't get me this."

"Nope," I said, popping the "p". "It will be Iggy that you'll be climbing all over in two seconds."

"Man, thanks Ig!" Gazzy shouted. Like I had predicted, he tackled Iggy, who just smiled and laughed quietly.

"Ohmygosh!" Nudge squealed, holding up a purple shirt with sparkles. "It's the shirt from Old Navy!"

"That one I can take credit for," I murmured, and she ran up to me and hugged me. I had to admit, it brought me a lot of joy seeing the Flock like this.

"Thanks, Max! God, it's so pretty. Do you think I'll look good in it? Maybe I'll wear it next time we go see your mom. Do you think Ella will like it? I bet she will. Look at it! It's so pretty, and sparkly."

"Glad you like it," I said, messing with her already-wild hair.

"Who got me this?" Angel asked, an eyebrow raised as she looked at the stuffed animal in her lap.

"Why? Don't you like it?" Fang asked. He sounded almost worried. That must've been his present to her, 'cause as far as I knew no one else had gotten her a stuffed animal.

Angel glanced at him, and her smile widened. "No, I love it! I was just wondering who knew that monkeys were my favorite animals." Then she blinked, and she giggled. "Thanks, Fang," she said, giving him a quick hug. She must've read his mind or something. "I like it a lot."

"Good to know," he murmured.

I looked down at one of the packages in my lap. There was one, thick and rectangular, that felt different from the rest. Maybe I would save it for last… Nah, I'd open it first.

As I tore off the wrapping paper from the corner, I noticed that it had a leathery texture. Strange. When I tore off more paper, I could see what it was. It was a photo album.

I flicked through the album, my mouth literally open. I'd never had anything like this, and so far I think it was the best present in the house. It wasn't material that made this gift special; it was the fact that someone had spent a long time arranging our photos so that they flowed with our lives, from beginning to end.

_Fang_, I thought as I looked over to him, where he was reading the back of a DVD that Iggy had gotten him with the help of Nudge. This was why he had stayed up so late last night? I would have to thank him later.

Well, we finished opening our presents to say the least. Angel got a few more things besides the stuffed monkey, Nudge got some gift cards to those clothing stores she's so obsessed with, Iggy ended up with some clothes and a new brail cookbook, Fang got _The Dark Knight_ on DVD along with some stuff for his laptop, and I got some gift cards and cash along with my album. Overall, not a bad Christmas, considering we're six mutant bird kids living on our own.

When the excitement had toned down a bit because of present time being over and the kids were a little less hyper, Iggy went out to the kitchen to make Christmas cookies. I lounged across the sofa, the photo album on my lap as I watched the younger kids. Gazzy was sitting at the island in the kitchen so he could talk to Iggy, but he was totally engrossed in his book; Nudge had disappeared into her room; Angel was sitting on the loveseat, hugging her new monkey and practically beaming; I don't know where Fang was, he must've gone invisible. Typical.

"Do you like it?" I heard him ask, and I jumped. He was sitting on the arm of the sofa, smirking.

"Do you have to sneak up on me like that?" I scream-whispered at him.

"I'll take that as a yes." He sat down on the couch next to me, his eyes closing as he rested his head against the back of the sofa. He looked completely worn out. He must've been up really late.

"You didn't have to do this, you know," I said, fingering the edge of the cover of the album. "It must've taken you so long to make."

"You like it, I can tell. I knew you would, so that's why I did it."

"Thanks. It means a lot to me."

"You're welcome."

We sat in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company. It was relaxing to just sit on the couch with my best friend; nothing bothered me, I had no cares in the world. It was great.

About half an hour later, Iggy called "Cookies are out of the oven!" I swear, I've never seen Nudge move so fast; she was out of her room and in the kitchen in about 2.8 seconds. And who knew that she could stuff four cookies in her mouth at once?

The cookies were good, and later we all shared a carton of eggnog. The Christmas tree was our only source of light in the room; the lights made the room glow, and it was beautiful. Everyone was having a great time, and after a while I glanced at the clock. Crap, it was already ten o'clock! How the time flies when you're having fun.

"Okay kids, bedtime," I said. I closed my eyes so that I couldn't see the three sets of Bambi eyes that were boring into my face. They needed to go to sleep on time; I'd been a little too lenient the last few days, and dark circles were forming under their eyes.

'_C'mon, Max. Pleeease let us stay up late.'_

'_Angel, get out of my head. And you three need your sleep, so don't argue and just go to bed.'_

Angel withdrew from my mind, and I heard a little huff as she got up from the sofa and stalked off to her room. Gazzy got up right after her, and Nudge took a little longer to leave the room. Finally, Iggy, Fang, and I were the only ones in the living room.

I yawned and stretched. "I think I'm going to go into my room and read," I said, standing up and scratching an itchy spot on my head.

"See ya in the morning, Max," Iggy said, his sightless eyes following me as I headed toward my room. Fang gave a small nod, which was as much of a goodbye as I would get out of him.

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After changing into a comfortable camisole and a pair of PJ shorts, I crawled under the soft covers of my bed and laid the photo album on the bed beside me so that I could see it while I was propped up on an elbow. I began to flick through it, memories coming back to me as I looked through the pictures.

The first was a picture of the entire Flock, and Jeb. Jeb was sitting in the center, cradling a baby Angel in his arms. Fang was behind him on his right, his arms crossed and his face expressionless, as always. Iggy was on his knees to his left, his fingers forming a peace sign. I was standing right behind him, leaning over Jeb's shoulder and smiling. Nudge and Gazzy were on Jeb's left; Nudge had Gazzy in a playful headlock, and he was staring up at her in frustration. I smiled and moved on to the next picture.

It was a picture of Angel. She was dressed in a pink elephant costume for her first Halloween; sure, we didn't to trick-or-treating like normal kids, but we hid candy in the woods and tried to find it again later.

The picture after that was of Fang, Iggy and I. We were eleven years old and all hiding in my closet, chocolate smeared all over our faces. I laughed. I remembered that day; Jeb had been soooo mad, and Nudge had constantly pouted because we had left her out. But man, that chocolate had been worth it. It had melted in our mouths, and man, it was the best chocolate I'd ever had.

The next picture was of Gazzy and Angel. They were wearing identical blue polo shirts, and Angel was wearing a sky blue skirt. They were smiling, and Gazzy was holding a melting ice cream cone. But what really stood out were the pink bunny ears on top of each of their heads. It was our first Easter away from the School, and Jeb had generously provided us with generic plastic bunny ears.

I flicked through the next few pictures: Iggy being caught red-handed building a bomb; Nudge singing karaoke while Iggy gripped his ears in mock pain behind her; me holding Angel on my shoulders, grinning as she dripped sticky caramel from her melting candy bar on my nose; Fang doing a cannonball into the lake that was near the old house in Colorado; all of us standing shoulder-to-shoulder, holding up our hands in one of those signs rock stars are famous for making. I smiled as I thought back to all the memories of my life before I'd had to save the world.

The last picture was one that was taken this past summer. We were all in bathing suits, and Fang and me were tormenting the younger kids. Angel was covering her head as she ran away from Fang, who was spraying water from the hose all over her. I was running after Gazzy and Nudge with a water gun, a wild grin on my face. Iggy was sitting on the steps of the house, listening to us and laughing his head off. Ah, good times.

I closed the album and sighed. A trip down memory lane had been what I'd needed. All the old memories came flooding back into my mind, and I smiled. This was what life was meant to be like: full of fun and joy. Sure, we'd had our hardships, but in the end we'd always pulled through.

As I turned off my bedside lamp and settled into my bed, I couldn't help but smile as I closed my eyes. I was thankful for my family, for my life. And I don't think that if I had the chance to go back in time that I would ever change it. Not even the part about having wings.

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**Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are still very much appreciated, and I love to hear what people have to say about my writing. Oh, and I might not be able to update every single day; I think people are getting mad at me because I'm not updating my Heroes story as quickly as I used to, so I'm probably going to focus more on that for at least a while. Don't be mad, though. I'll still work on this and try to update it every couple of days.**

**Until next time, au revior! (and don't forget to review!!)**


	3. Cookies

**Okay, the only reason I didn't update yesterday was that for some reason my document manager wouldn't upload this chapter. Grr... oh well. Here's chapter 3, hope you enjoy it.**

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The next day, the Flock and I decided to call up Dr. Martinez to see if we could stop by for a visit. Of course, my mom was ecstatic; she hadn't seen us since we saved the world over a year ago, though we had been keeping in touch over the phone and on the computer. She told us that she would be ready for us, and that she couldn't wait to see us.

We dressed quickly and threw my mom and sister's presents in one of those huge plastic bags you get at Macy's when you buy a ton of stuff. Needless to say, it was pretty heavy, so we decided to take turns carrying it.

As we soared over Seattle on our way to Arizona, I glanced down at the metropolis. Sometime I'd have to bring Nudge here to go shopping. She'd love that; it was large enough to give you that big-city feeling, but not large enough to get totally and utterly lost in.

We flew for hours, riding the currents of air that swept along the Pacific coast. We followed the shore down into the lower parts of California, and then veered inland. The hot southern air hit us like a slap in the face; it wasn't nearly as calming and cool as the coastal air. Personally, I preferred to live on the ocean because you had a pretty much constant climate.

When we finally crossed the Arizona state border, I was practically ready to fall out of the sky from exhaustion. Not wanting to make the others do anything straining, I'd carried the bag for most of the trip, and now the weight was straining my arms. I might be inhumanly strong, but carrying something almost two-fifths of my weight did tend to make me tired.

I groaned as I tried to shift the weight of the bag. It was getting too heavy for me, and I didn't want to drop my mom and my sister's presents almost fifteen thousand feet.

"You need some help?" Fang pulled up beside me, his black wings almost purple in the sunlight.

"No," I lied. "I'm fine." But I think the clench of my jaw as I strained to carry the presents gave me away.

"Come on, Max. I know you love the Flock, but let them carry some weight once in a while. Here, give it to me." He gently eased the bag out of my hands and into his own. I breathed a sigh of relief as my arms relaxed, free from the heavy weight.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. So, how long before we get to your mom's place?"

I looked down at the landscape ponderously, trying to find any familiar landmarks. "Well, I think somewhere around an hour. But I'm not sure. If we flew at top speed, we might get there in about a half an hour."

"I don't think we can go full speed, but I guess an hour isn't much longer. Considering we've been flying for eight already."

I nodded. Eight hours already… wow. Let me tell you, time definitely goes faster when you're fifteen thousand feet above the world.

We pretty much just coasted for the rest of the journey. Gazzy started doing lazy loops at one point, but he stopped when I announced that we were near Dr. Martinez's house. By now, everyone was excited; we knew that my mom would probably have a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies waiting for us, and none of us could control ourselves around her baking. She was the best chef ever, and food is a big issue for us since we need so much of it.

Our landing in the yard behind my mom's house was clumsy and hilarious to watch, but we were all too eager to see Ella and Dr. Martinez to care. Jeb would probably be here, too, but all the same our trip here was looking bright. Iggy was practically radiating with his joy; I knew he couldn't wait to see Ella. The two had grown… close, beyond friendship. They were pretty much as together as you can get without physically dating.

"Max!" The excited squeal came from the door, and about two seconds later I was enveloped in a crushing hug by Ella. I laughed.

"Ella… I can't breathe!"

"Oh, sorry Max." She pulled away from me and smiled brightly. "We've been waiting for you. Mom made some cookies."

Ah… I was right. Mom knew my weakness.

"Great!" I took the big bag of presents from Fang, and Ella's eyes widened. "We brought you some Christmas presents."

"Oh, you shouldn't have! Really! I mean, you guys survive all on your own, you don't need to spend your money on us."

"We wanted to, El. Anyway, it's Christmas for Pete's sake. We can spare some money for presents once a year."

"Still, you don't have much money, and I'll feel guilty."

I laughed. "No you won't. You'll love your present, I promise, and you'll forget about feeling bad as soon as you lay eyes on it."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah."

Ella beamed and led me up to the back porch, the Flock following us. As soon as my sister opened the door, the scent of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies wafted over us. I probably would've drooled if I hadn't started walking toward the kitchen.

"You act like you haven't eaten in a while," Ella joked. She was standing next to Iggy, her fingers intertwined in his. Holding hands… somehow, I'd always wanted to do that with someone. But I'd never had time for romance. I'd always needed to worry about saving the world.

'_You don't have to worry about that anymore, Max. We already saved the world.'_

'_Angel, get out of my head.'_

'_Fine. But Fang still loves you, and he'll wait as long as he has to for you to admit that you love him back.'_

I snuck a glance at Fang. He was plucking a cookie off of the tray my mom had left sitting on the stove; Dr. Martinez had gone to wash her hands so that she wouldn't get cookie dough all over us when she hugged us. Did he really still love me, after I'd fled from his affections so many times before?

I realized that he did. He'd never made a move on another girl since Antarctica, not once. He was still waiting for me, waiting patiently too.

Realization came over me as I watched him. I did love him; I wanted him to be mine. I wanted to be by his side through thick and thin, to love him and be loved in return. But I would never admit it; that kind of mushy stuff didn't help me maintain the tough rep I'd built over the years.

Needless to say, when Mom returned there was mucho hugging and devouring of cookies. God, I never get tired of my mom's baking; the chocolate just melts in your mouth, and the vanilla hints are soooo satisfying. Nothing could beat it.

About an hour later, we were giving Ella and my mom their presents. We'd gotten my mom a few books to read, and she seemed grateful for them. She told us that she'd been meaning to start reading again, and that the books we picked out for her were perfect.

Ella practically screamed her head off when she saw what we got her.

"Oh my gosh, NO WAY! A karaoke machine?! Guys, you shouldn't have!" She tackled all of us with hugs, and I chuckled. I knew she loved to sing, and I just _had_ to get it for her when I saw it on sale at a store in Olympia when I'd gone there for a little present-hunting trip.

"So, I'm guessing that you like it?" I asked as I eased out of her bone-crushing hug.

"Of course! It's, like, the best present ever. Thanks so much, guys!"

"Are we going to play it later?" Nudge asked excitedly.

"Duh!" Ella rolled her eyes jokingly. "You can't get a karaoke machine and not play it on the first night you have it."

"Karaoke night!" Nudge screamed at the top of her lungs. She liked to sing too, and I think she was secretly jealous of Ella's gift. Luckily for her, I'd bought another one for her and hid it in my closet. I'd give it to her when we got back.

"When can we start?" Ella asked, looking at me expectantly.

"Anytime, I guess." I shrugged.

"Can we start now?"

"Why wouldn't we be able to? Jeez, Ella, it's your house. We're the visitors here! Do it whenever you want."

I practically clutched my ears when they both screamed as high as their vocal cords would allow.

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**Hope you liked this chapter! And don't forget to review!**


	4. Confession

**Okey-dokey, I finally finished this chapter. yay! Unfortunately, state testing commences 2morrow, and I may not be able to update my story *tear***

**To oceanlover14: Don't worry, you'll get your Fax. There's some in this chapter, and a lot in the next.**

**To goldeneyes20601: Thanks so much for complimenting my writing style. And the photo album was actually the first thing I thought about when I was coming up with this story.**

**To Randomitis Sufferer: Don't worry, I'll update soon.**

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Ella turned the volume on the karaoke machine up to the max, tapping the microphone to test it and almost blowing out my eardrums in the process. I loved my sister a lot, but sometimes she tended to forget that my Flock's senses were a lot sharper than hers. I think I saw Fang wince too.

"Okay, who's going first?" Angel asked curiously.

"I vote Max!" Nudge said.

"Same here!" Ella practically sang.

I held up my hands. "Whoa," I said. "Hold up. When did I agree to sing?"

"C'mon, Max. Don't be a party pooper."

I couldn't look away before I got a double dose of Bambi eyes from Ella and Nudge. God… what was I going to sing? I mean, I can't sing good to save my life. It definitely isn't one of my greatest talents.

"Fine," I mumbled, grabbing the microphone. "As long as I don't have to sing some mushy love song."

Ella pouted, but I was able to look away before she gave more Bambi eyes. There was no way I was going to sing about love; I already had a song in mind, and I thought I'd probably be able to sing it better than some sappy love song.

I turned down the volume a little when Ella turned to talk to Nudge, and I brought the microphone to my lips, gulping. The guys were never going to let me live this down. _Might as well get this over with_, I told myself, and I began to sing.

_"… I can see  
When you stay though  
Nothing happens  
Does it feel right?  
Late at night  
Things I thought I'd put behind me  
Haunt my mind_

_I just know there's no escape now  
Once it sets it's eyes on you  
But I won't run  
Have to stare it in the eyes_

_Stand my ground  
I won't give in  
No more denying  
I've gotta face it  
Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside  
If I don't make it, someone else will  
Stand my ground_

_It's all around  
Getting stronger, coming closer into my world  
I can feel that it's time for me to face it  
Can I take it?_

_Though this might just be the ending  
Of the life I held so dear  
But I won't run  
There's no turning back from here_

_Stand my ground  
I won't give in  
No more denying  
I've gotta face it  
Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside  
If I don't make it, someone else will  
Stand my ground_

_All I know for sure is that I'm trying  
I will always stand my ground_

_Stand my ground  
I won't give in, I won't give in  
I won't give up, I won't give up  
No more denying  
I've gotta face it  
Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside  
If I don't make it, someone else will…_

_Stand my ground  
I won't give in  
No more denying  
I've gotta face it  
Won't close my eyes and hide the truth inside  
If I don't make it, someone else will  
Stand my ground …"_

I brought the microphone away from my mouth and handed it off to Nudge, who grabbed it excitedly. I went over to the couch and sank into the cushions, watching Nudge as she tried to come up with a song. Then, to my surprise, Fang got up off the couch and walked over to her.

"Mind if I try?" he asked. I think my chin was touching the floor because my mouth was hanging open. Fang _sung?_ Since when?! I knew he liked rock music and stuff, but singing had never seemed like one of his interests.

He turned the volume down a little on the karaoke machine, and his comfort level seemed to drop a little when he noticed everyone staring at him. Well, everyone except Iggy, who couldn't see, and Angel had gone to the bathroom. Clearing his throat, Fang began to sing.

"…_This world will never be  
What I expected  
And if I don't belong  
Who would have guessed it  
I will not leave alone  
Everything that I own  
To make you feel like it's not too late  
It's never too late_

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late_

_No one will ever see  
This side reflected  
And if there's something wrong  
Who would have guessed it  
And I have left alone  
Everything that I own  
To make you feel like  
It's not too late  
It's never too late_

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late_

_The world we knew  
Won't come back  
The time we've lost  
Can't get back  
The life we had  
Won't be ours again_

_This world will never be  
What I expected  
And if I don't belong_

_Even if I say  
It'll be alright  
Still I hear you say  
You want to end your life  
Now and again we try  
To just stay alive  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late  
Maybe we'll turn it around  
'Cause it's not too late  
It's never too late, it's never too late  
It's not too late  
It's never too late..."_

Amazingly, he did a really good job. His singing voice was so appealing; it wasn't necessarily low, but it was full of the emotions in the song. His voice was always appealing, though. Wait, did I just think that? Crap, I need to get control of myself. I mean, Fang's my best friend. Always has been. How can I think something about him like that? If we got together and had a fight, it would tear the Flock apart. I couldn't do that to them again. I just couldn't… could I?

The rest of the Flock and Ella took turns singing into the microphone. It was like having American Idol right in your living room. And let me tell you, hearing Gazzy sing "White and Nerdy" is just plain hilarious. I mean, he's always been a fan of Weird Al, but the funniest thing about it is that he imitates his voice perfectly with his mimicry powers.

When everyone was done singing and the younger kids were arguing over whether they should get extra turns on the machine, I slipped out the side door and flew to the roof. It was a sunny day, so I let my wings stay out and soak in the sunlight, which warmed me like hot cocoa on a chilly winter day. I sat down on the rough shingles, curling my knees to my chest.

A few minutes later, I heard light footsteps on the roof. I knew it was Fang; I didn't even have to look. No one, not even little Angel, had footsteps that quiet.

"Hey," I said as he sat down beside me.

"Hey."

It was silent for a minute until I broke the silence. "So… you sing, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. Not much, but once in a while. Your song was beautiful."

"Please," I said, breaking the word into two syllables. "I must've sounded like a goose about to get its head chopped off."

"No, seriously. It was great."

I glanced at him from the corner of me eye. "You think so?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Well, you weren't too bad yourself."

He nodded to acknowledge my compliment, his shaggy bangs falling in his eyes. God, he looked amazing in the sun. He was so hot…

"Can I ask you something, Max?" I was brought out of my worshiping stare by his question, and I quickly gained composure.

"Sure."

"Why do you always run?"

I definitely wasn't expecting that. For a minute, all I could think was '_Why_ do_ I always run?_' What came out of my lips was "What?"

"Every time I kiss you, you run away. Max, I need to know, right now: Do you love me, or do you hate me?"

I gawked at him. "Fang, you're my best friend. I could never hate you."

"But do you love me?"

I bit my lip. That was Fang, always the one to cut right to the heart of the matter. "I don't know," I admitted. "Sometimes when I look at you, I feel something special. But then I remember that we're best friends, and I feel all awkward inside." God, why was I telling him this?! I must be insane! But, for some reason, I didn't stop. It was like a part of me just wanted to get this out, to tell him. "It's like I'm teetering on the top of a fence, like I could go either way."

Then I noticed that he was watching me intently with his dark eyes. His face was as breathtaking as the rest of his body; everything about him spoke of his power and his grace, and I remembered how his strong arms had held me when I'd cried. I'd felt so safe, so secure, like he was the glue holding me together. He'd always been my shoulder to cry on, my friend in my darkest hours. Did I love him?

I knew the answer already: Yes. But would I be able to tell him that?

That's when he began to trace gentle circles on my neck. Like an idiot, I asked, "What are you doing?"

"Helping you fall on my side of the fence," he said, and then his lips crashed against mine.

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**So, that's chapter 4. Wasn't my favorite, but I don't think it turned out too bad. The songs for Max and Fang's karaoke were hard to pick, so please don't flame me because of my choice of music. Plus, those are two of my favorite songs.**

**Anyway, I'm still begging for reviews. It helps me with my writing, and I'm open to suggestions on how the story should go (even though I already have something in mind)**

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	5. Her Fang, His Max

**Yay, I was able to do a double post 2day! Whoo-hoo! Okay, there's one thing I would like to address. The songs from the last chapter are "Stand My Ground" by Within Temptation (Max's song) and "Never Too Late" by Three Days Grace (Fang's Song) I got a lot of people asking, so I did a community address so everyone would know**

**To PounceGirl: Thank you for such nice reviews.**

**To irock329: Thanks for your enthusiasim. It made me smile.**

**Oh, and people really seem to like the "help you fall on my side of the fence" line at the end of the last chapter. It makes me smile to know that something original of mine is so well-liked.**

**Before I get carried away, let's get on with the story!**

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My mind went completely blank when Fang's lips touched mine. I mean, sure, we'd kissed before, but those kisses were nothing like this. Fang's lips were firm against mine, full of pent-up passion.

It felt so wrong because he was my best friend, yet it felt so right. I found myself angling my head so that he could kiss me better, and soon I was kissing him back. His hands started at my shoulders and worked their way down to my waist; my fingers became entangled in the hair at the base of his skull, and I found myself wanting more.

We only broke apart when we were both devoid of any oxygen. We sat next to each other, my hands still in his hair and his hands still on my waist. Fang looked at me almost… apologetically?

"I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have forced that on you." But when he began to move his hands away from my waist, I grabbed them and stared him in the eyes.

"Thank you," I whispered to him. "I think you definitely pushed me to your side of the fence."

He smiled, and I pressed my lips to his. I was surprised by my own passion; I'd never dreamed of kissing a boy like this, much less thinking that that boy would be Fang. But I couldn't repress the feelings I had for him. When he began to kiss me back, this time more sweetly than passionately, I knew exactly why I was in love with him. He was strong, sure, but he was sweet and caring. He wanted me to be happy, and he didn't force things on me that I didn't like. I've never loved anyone more than him. No one could compare. Not even Sam in Virginia. He's such a wiener compared to Fang. And to think I used to like that sucker…

I don't know how long we kissed – time didn't really seem to matter anymore – but finally we ran out of air again. When we pulled apart, I settled for just resting my head on his chest, letting him trace soothing circles on my wing.

"I love you," I whispered to him, smiling into his shirt. I felt him move; he was probably looking down at me, and I could practically see the sweet smile.

He pressed his lips to my hair. "I love you too," he murmured. His pitch-black wings began to move, and soon we were encased in a cocoon of soft feathers, gentle streams of sunlight peeking in through the gaps between feathers. I felt completely at ease, like nothing could harm me. I closed my eyes with a contented sigh, letting my thoughts wander.

**_Fang's POV_**

I looked down at Max. Her brown eyes were closed, her lips forming a beautiful smile. She was happy… that was all that mattered. To tell the truth, I don't think that I would've been mad if she had said she didn't love me. I would've kept waiting for her, never giving up on the slim chance that she would want me. But now I knew that she loved me, and it made my heart beat faster just thinking about her. She was so beautiful, and strong… one minute she could be reading Angel a bedtime story, and the next she'd be punching some loser's face and shattering his nose. She was so unpredictable, so smart and so graceful. She was like a living angel. No, she _was_ a living angel. My angel. My Max.

I smiled. My Max… I'd been waiting so long to say that, and now I could. She was mine, and I was hers.

'_Aw, that's so sweet,'_ a little voice said in my head.

'_Angel, get out of my head.'_

'_Fine.'_ Her voice had a pouting note in it, but at least she withdrew from my thoughts. I don't know; I just don't really like having her floating around in my mind when I'm thinking about Max. Talk about awkward.

I felt Max shift in my arms, and she moved away from me a little. Her eyes opened, and her smile widened.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey." She moved away from me, and I retracted my wings. She stretched her arms, yawned. "Jeez, I feel like I could pass out right about now."

"Why, does kissing make you tired?"

She gave me a fake death glare, and I grinned. It cracked me up when she pretended to be mad; she got this real cute face, and her nose wrinkled up like she just smelled something disgusting.

"No," she said in self-defense. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Uh-huh, sure."

"The sunlight makes me sleepy."

"Yeah, right."

"Seriously, it does."

"Whatever." I stood up and held out a hand to her, smiling to show that I was joking around. She took my hand, and I hauled her off the roof, catching her when she stumbled a little. "Watch your footing, klutz."

Her eyes narrowed, and I laughed.

"What are you laughing about?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just so funny when you pretend to be mad."

"Who says I'm pretending?"

"Come on, Max. I've known you since we were babies. I know when you're pretending."

"I guess you'd be an expert on that, considering you have the best poker face in the long history of poker players." She stuck her tongue out jokingly at me, and I put on a mock scowl.

"Come on, let's go inside. The little kids are probably getting suspicious by now." She unfurled her wings and let herself fall off the side of the house, landing in a neat crouch on the soft earth below and using her wings to slow her fall. I followed her down, tucking in my wings as soon as I straightened out of my crouch.

"So, should we tell the Flock?" Max asked as she stood in front of the back door, her hand resting on the handle.

"I think they already know," I said, rolling my eyes and knowing she'd take the hint.

"Angel?"

"Yup."

She sighed and opened the door. Everyone else was still in the living room, playing with the karaoke machine. Max held a finger to her lips and pointed to the kitchen. I smirked and nodded, and together we made our way out there, where a tray of cooling cookies was sitting on the stove.

"First picks are always the best," Max said, plucking a cookie from the tray. "Especially when no one knows you get it."

"Hmm, never thought of it that way," I said, taking two cookies and immediately taking a bite of one. It was good, as Dr. Martinez's cooking always was.

"Good thing, too. Otherwise I wouldn't get dibs anymore."

I smirked and took another bite of cookie. Together we probably consumed somewhere between five and nine before we finally decided to save our appetite for dinner. Of course, just before we left was when the younger kids decided to show up.

"Hi guys!" Nudge said, skipping into the room, her wild hair bouncing with her gate. "So are you guys together now? You make such a cute couple, ya know? Max, you _have_ to let me and Ella dress you up for your first date. And you are totally wearing make-up. I wonder what you'd look like with black mascara. Or maybe purplish eyeliner. Or maybe some-" I think I heard Max breath a sigh of relief when Gazzy finally slapped a hand over her mouth. I silently thanked him.

"So, are you guys seriously going out?" Iggy asked, sitting down on one of the dining room chairs. Ella sat next to him, their hands touching.

"We're thinking about it," Max said nervously. I could tell she didn't like to talk about relationships in front of everyone, particularly the guys, so I decided to give her a break. I tapped Gazzy on the shoulder and tilted my head toward my room. He got the hint and took off, and then I did the same to Iggy. I glanced back at Max before I went after them.

"I'll be in my room if you need anything," I said.

She nodded, and I went after the other guys. Maybe we'd play some card games or something.

**_Max's POV_**

I watched Fang leave after the other guys. He knew that I didn't want to discuss my romance in front of the guys, and I made a mental note to thank him for it later. There was no way I was going to get around talking to Nudge and Ella about it, though.

"So, you're seriously together now?" Ella asked, grabbing a cookie and taking a small bite.

I shifted under her calculating gaze. "Well, yeah. I guess you could call it that."

And get this: she burst out laughing.

"About time!" she laughed, and I raised an eyebrow. "I thought you two were never going to admit that you like each other. You're both way too stubborn."

"Is it really that obvious?" I mumbled, and it was Nudge who answered me.

"Uh, yeah Max, it kind of is. I mean, you two look at each other all the time, and I don't need mind-reading powers like Angel to see that you two love each other. You guys make such a perfect couple though. Do you know when you're going on your first date? You should so totally go to the movies. Did you know they're playing that Mall Cop movie at the cinema in town? I hear that movie is really funny. I love the mall. It's so fun to go shopping, isn't it? I mean, you can find and buy anything. Once I saw gerbils for sale on one of those little kiosks. They were so cute!"

I swear, only Nudge could go from talking about how people love each other to gerbils in less than three minutes. And in one breath, too. Talk about talented.

"So, do you know when you're going out?" Ella asked in a slightly more calm tone.

"I don't know," I said, taking yet another cookie from the dwindling supply. "I guess soon, but I'm not sure."

"You'd better let us do your makeup for you."

I groaned. "And here I was hoping you'd forget."

"Hey!"

"Come on, Max," Nudge whined. "Let us put make-up on you for at least your first date. Please? How about a vote?"

"Fine. All in favor of me wearing make-up?"

Ella and Nudge raised their hands. Angel sat in the dining room, her head cocked as she probably went through our thoughts. I guess she really wasn't part of the vote, but still.

"Looks like we're tied." I said, motioning to her. Nudge frowned, but Ella had a sly look on her face.

"I say we get one of the guys to vote," she said.

"Good idea!" Nudge said.

Oh. My. God. They were seriously going to go up to one of the guys and ask if I should let them do my make-up on my first date with Fang. Were they nuts?

Before I knew it, they were dragging me down the hall to Fang's room. Gazzy, Iggy, and Fang were all sitting on the floor, Iggy and Gaz playing against Fang in a game of Crazy 8's. They looked up when we entered the room, uninvited of course.

"What's this about?" Gazzy asked curiously.

"Okay, who should we ask?" Ella asked Nudge. Of course, I got no say. Figures.

"Hmm… what about Iggy?"

"Sure. Okay, Ig. Do you think Max should wear make-up on her first date?"

Iggy got an evil grin on his face that made me want to slap the living daylights out of him. I knew what the answer was before he spoke.

"Heck ya!"

Even though I knew it had been coming, that didn't stop the moan from escaping me. Great. I was officially about to become one of those Barbie heads that you put make-up on. Only they probably had it better than I would at the hands of Nudge and Ella.

'_Poor soul,'_ Angel thought to me.

'_Great. What are they thinking, Angel?'_

'_You probably don't want to know.'_

'_You're probably right. But hit me with it anyway.'_

She sent me a thought of a dress, and I moaned again. Jeez, I say I'm going out with a guy and they try to change me from a tomboy into some uptown girl overnight?

"Come on, Max. You might not be having your date tonight, but we might as well go shopping for your dress today!" Nudge literally dragged me out the door, and I stumbled over a computer case lying on the floor next to Fang's door.

"You're going to pay for that, Iggy!" I shouted over my shoulder as Nudge steered me into the living room so that I could get my shoes on. I think I heard him snicker, but I couldn't be sure. I would have to think of something purely evil to get back at him with, 'cause I know he did that just to make me suffer.

Iggy had no idea what he got himself into when he condemned me to a trip to the mall.

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**Okay, so there was chapter 5. Hope you enjoyed it! And don't forget to review! I love to hear what my readers have to say, and I would gladly take some suggestions for where the plot should go. Hopefully chapter 6 should be up soon, but tomorrow's state testing so I'm not completely sure. I'll keep my fingers crossed, though.**


	6. Shopping

**Wow, 35 reviews so far. You guys are great! People really seem to like this story, and that makes me feel very accomplished. My brain is practically dead because of testing, and to make it worse I had homework tonight (ick)**

**To pottrprincess: No, I haven't read the 5th book yet. I'm running out to get it sometime in the next couple days, though.**

**To Randomitis Sufferer: Good idea, and I love your avatar (it's freaking awesome)**

**Now let's get on with the story!!**

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I glared at the towering ceiling high above me, the only thing keeping me from whipping out my wings and flying out of the mall in front of everyone. God, I totally hated it here. There were too many people, too much noise, too little space… it was like malls were created just to get on my nerves.

I kept silent as Ella and Nudge dragged me to the various clothing stores. The only thing I was thankful for at the moment was that Angel hadn't come; if she had, Nudge would've made her control my mind and made me buy some frilly pink dress. At least I could argue with my free will.

"Look, Max, this totally goes with you," Ella said, showing me a short blue dress with longs sleeves and a low V-neck. "Just get a white camisole and some leggings, and then you're set."

"No thanks," I said as politely as I could.

"What about this?" Nudge asked, holding out a flowing purple dress.

"Um, isn't it a little girly for me?" I know, pathetic, right? I was taking any chance that I could get around wearing a dress on my date.

Nudge snorted. "Come on, Max! You're a girl, for crying out loud! And you're going on a date, so you should wear something girly."

"Iggy's never let me live it down," I murmured, earning an aggravated huff from Ella.

"If you're really that concerned about Iggy, I'll handle it," she said. "Don't forget, I have my resources."

I smirked. Maybe she could help me with my revenge… nah. What I had planned for Iggy was way too evil for her to do to her boyfriend. She'd probably take his side on the matter anyway.

After looking in about five more stores, we finally settled on an outfit. Luckily for me, it wasn't a dress; instead, it was a black miniskirt and a light gray turtleneck. It wasn't much better then a dress, but all the same I would've taken it instead of a dress any day of the week. Ella and Nudge picked out a pair of furry black boots for my shoes, something I had no say in.

I think the biggest surprise for me, though, was when we didn't go straight home. Instead, Ella and Nudge took me to the mall salon. The only environment I've ever been in that was even remotely close to the salon setting was that parlor in New York that had given the Flock makeovers. I definitely wasn't comfortable with the rancid smell of hair dye stuffing up the room.

"You need a new hair style," Nudge announced as Ella went to sign us in. Apparently, they'd called ahead of time to reserve us a spot. I'm always the last to know these kinds of things. "We can't cut your hair at home, so we decided to bring you here."

"What wrong with my hair?" I asked, fingering a stray strand. "It looks fine."

"Face it, Max, your hair's almost as bad as mine. It needs to be straightened out, dyed, completely changed."

"Why do you have to do this to me, Nudge?" I groaned.

"Because I care about your romantic life. Your stylist is almost ready now, so you might as well stop whining and think about what you want to do with your hair. If you can't think of anything, I'll be glad to help."

"I think I'm good, thanks."

"I thought so."

Without going into much detail, let's just say my trip to the salon was a nightmare. Almost as bad as clothes shopping. My stylist was this woman in her early twenties, and I swear that the only thing she wanted to do with my hair was dye it bright pink. I was almost tempted to let her, just to get on Nudge's nerves, but in the end I ended up with my natural hair color being subtly tinted with darker streaks of light brown and having about three inches hacked off. My hair was still long, but not nearly as long as before.

"Looks like we're going to have to make Fang take a trip to the mall next," Nudge said as we left the dreaded mall behind. I breathed a sigh of relief as I passed through the double doors that led out to the parking lot, where we would take the main road home. We'd be walking, of course, but we all wore running shoes and it would be no problem for any of us. Nudge and I had super stamina because of our bird genes, and Ella was a soccer player, so she was used to running for a while. The house was probably about a fifteen-minute walk from the mall, but if we ran we could get there in ten.

"What makes you think he'll let you take him?" I asked.

"I have my ways of convincing him."

I rolled my eyes. Poor Fang; no doubt a plan was already boiling in Nudge's brain. Then again, his trip here probably wouldn't be as bad as mine; the most they could do was take him to Abercrombie and make him buy a colored shirt. Nothing else would really bother him, and it's not like they could force him into a dress. Eew… nasty mental picture.

**_Next Day, Fang's POV_**

"Remind me why I'm doing this again?" I muttered as I walked into the Abercrombie store, my hands in my pockets and my eyes scanning the store. Ugh, everything in here had some kind of color; there was hardly any black.

"You're doing this because you need some new clothes," Nudge said, pushing me toward the teen section. "Anyway, it's not fair to Max if she has to get clothes and you don't."

"I still don't see the point in being forced to wear something with color."

Iggy sniggered. At least I'd been able to drag him along. He was hanging onto my belt loop. "It looks like Max isn't going to be the only one with a new look," he said.

I glared at him, but the effect was lost since he was blind. I definitely wasn't going to look forward to trying on all the shirts and jeans Nudge was no doubt going to force on me. I swear, no one likes to dress up other people as much as Nudge. It's like everyone is her personal Barbie doll. Except for me; I'm her personal Ken, Barbie's boyfriend.

I sighed as Nudge shoved a few shirts into my arms and steered me toward the changing rooms. I looked quickly at the colors of the fabrics; red, orange, blue… all colorful. Why couldn't she just let me stick with my traditional black?

Whatever. I guess it was time for Nudge to play 'Dress Up Ken.'

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**Okay, so this wasn't the best chapter ever, but it's more of a filler than anything. Plus, my creative mind is all used up from testing. Anyway, hope you liked it. I don't know when chapter 7 will be up, but hopefully it will be up soon.**

**As always, please review! Positive reviews are very welcomed and appreciated, and while I don't want to be flamed, constructive criticism is fine and I'll take suggestions for future plot events. So please, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!**


	7. Preparing for the Date

**I'm sorry this chapter is so short; I have archery tonight, and I wanted to get this posted before I went. I have suceeded, haha! Anyway, hope you enjoy this.**

**To goldeneyes20601: Sorry I broke the Fangness tradition, I hope you forgive me! Don't worry, he retains wearing at least one article of black clothing. And thanks for commenting about how you think Max's outfit sounds cool. I tried to give her something elegant yet simple.**

**To PounceGirl: No, you're not getting annoying. It's nice to know there are people out there who like my stories as much as you do. You make me feel honored. *bows* And your reviews make me smile!**

**To Roses and Chess Pieces: I'm sorry the last couple of chapters have been so short. It's state testing season, and my creativity is being all used up on writing prompts. I try not to drabble in my chapters, and that's what I do when I run out of ideas for the chapter. Thus, when I only have a few ideas, I make the chapter short. Sorry! Hopefully the next few will be a little longer.**

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As soon as Fang, Iggy, and Nudge got back to the house, I knew they had forced Fang to buy something he didn't want. He had that sulking look on his face, and he took the only bag be brought back with him straight to his room without saying a word to anyone. I bet they made him buy something with some color.

Dr. Martinez got back from a day at her vet clinic and made us a freaking awesome Mexican dinner. It tasted great; there were tacos, Mexican pizzas, tortilla chips, salsa, all kinds of foods. Fang was still sulking, and that's how I knew they'd made him buy something that wasn't black.

"So, when are you guys going to go on your date?" Dr. Martinez asked as she put a plate in front of me. I looked over at Fang; he shrugged. I gave him a look that said 'thanks a lot for such wonderful help'. The edge of his lips quirked a little.

"I don't know," I answered my mom, putting a couple of tacos onto my plate. "We haven't figured it out yet."

"Do you think it's going to be soon?"

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"Did you know there's going to be a carnival tonight?"

I mentally groaned as Nudge sat up in her chair, paying close attention now. Great, she was going to force a date on us _tonight_. And I was looking forward to just relaxing for a while at the house. I caught Fang's eye, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah?" I asked, trying to be polite.

"Yeah, down by the old church. Practically everyone's going tonight."

"Max, you and Fang could go there on your date!" Nudge said excitedly. "That would be so cool. And it's a carnival! I love carnivals, they're so cool, with the lights and the music and the games and the rides and-" I sighed with relief when Gazzy, who was sitting next to her, slapped a hand over her mouth.

"I don't know," I said. "Fang, what do you think?"

He shrugged. Unfortunately, Nudge took it as a yes.

"Oh my God, this is going to be so cool! Dr. Martinez, do you know when the carnival starts?"

"Around six."

Nudge looked at the clock and gasped. "That only leaves us with an hour and a half! Come on, Max, we have to get you ready for your date!" I moaned pitifully as she tried to drag me off my chair, which she somewhat succeeded in doing. By the time I stood up, I was almost halfway onto the floor in a very awkward position. Don't ask.

I glanced over my shoulder as Nudge led me down the hall to the bathroom. Fang wasn't exactly smiling, but he was watching me go, and then glancing at the clock. I knew why: as soon as they were done with me, they'd go after him. He was counting down how many minutes he had left to wear his black attire before they forced him into something with color.

As Nudge sat me down on my bed, I took a quick glance in the mirror. My hair was a mess; definitely not date material. Nudge was going through my closet to get the clothes I'd bought at the mall, and Ella was in the doorway now.

"First, you're going to get a shower," Nudge said as she laid the gray turtleneck and the miniskirt out on my bed, plopping the black boots on the floor. "You're hair will need to dry, but we can get that done with a hairdryer. Then you'll have to get dressed, and then we can go all-out on your hair and makeup."

"Please don't go overboard with the makeup," I begged. "You can do whatever you want with my hair, just _please_ don't use too much makeup."

"But that takes all the fun out of it!"

"I don't care. This is my date, and I should at least have some say in what I look like. And don't even think about giving me Bambi eyes."

Leaving Nudge grumbling about how unfair I was being, I went into the bathroom and turned the water in the shower to the hottest temperature it would go. I let the hot water just run over my body for a while, taking comfort in the scalding liquid. Then I started to massage the shampoo into my hair. Sure, I really didn't want to go on a date tonight, and I didn't want Nudge to dictate how I look for it, but I was still going on a date with my dream guy. There was no excuse for me to look like I didn't care about the date; I did, and I wanted to look good beside Fang. I wanted to look like I deserved such a gorgeous guy; I wanted him to think that I was pretty. Probably for the first time in my life, I cared about how I looked.

It felt kind of weird.

-----

An hour later, I was sitting on the chair in front of Nudge's vanity, staring at myself in the mirror. I looked… pretty. Ella had pulled my hair back in a loose bun, letting a couple of random locks fall down to my shoulders. Nudge hadn't gone to town with the makeup, thank God; my cheeks had just a little blush, and black eyeliner made my brown eyes stand out against my tan skin. My eyelashes looked bigger and fuller with the help of black mascara, and my skin had a glowing effect. My gray turtleneck hugged my figure, accenting my slim build. Since I was sitting down, I couldn't see how the skirt looked, but it felt extremely short. It would probably only cover a fourth of the way down my thighs, leaving most of my legs visible.

"You look beautiful," Ella breathed. "Our work has been fruitful."

I snickered. "You sound like some old lady, Ella."

She smiled. I stood up, stumbling slightly in the boots because I wasn't used to any type of shoe besides my Converse sneakers. The boots weren't as bad as I'd thought they would be; they would be hot later, but at least they were easy to walk in. And at least they weren't high heels.

Nudge had left a little while ago to make sure Fang was 'properly' dressed. As I walked into the living room, I think I heard her laughing in the hallway that led to Fang's room. A few seconds later, she emerged, and behind her was a very unhappy-looking Fang.

Well, he definitely wasn't wearing his usual attire. His jeans were black, but his button-down shirt was a deep cerulean blue. The buttons were open, revealing a white muscle shirt underneath. The muscle shirt hugged his abs, making him look totally hot. He looked like some male model.

"At least you're wearing some black," I said, gesturing to his pants. His lips twitched, his equivalent of smiling.

"Yeah, I guess." He glanced at the clock, which told us it was about five-thirty. A half-hour before the carnival started. "You ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

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**Once again, I'm sorry it's so short. Hopefully, the next chapter will be longer. And it will be about their date! Yay!**

**As always, reviews are really wanted. I owe everyone who reviews a giant chocolate chip cookie (the kind Max drools over), so REVEIW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!**


	8. Under the Stars

**Yay, chapter 8 is here! Took me a while to write, and it's a little awkward for me to write about people dating considering I've never been on a date myself. Please don't flame** **me if you think that the date was bad; as I said, I've never been on a date, I don't know what it's like, so I'm begging you not to criticize me because you think the date stunk.**

**To goldeneyes20601: Thank you for forgiving me! Oh, and by the way, I love your Twilight story. It rocks!**

**To Trin S.: Thanks for complimenting me as a writer. I'm trying to become a professional, actually. I've already sent in a story for publishing, even though they sent it back saying I needed an agent. * rolls eyes* They still liked it, though, so that's a good sign and my hopes are still high.**

**To Charmer1234: Well, I couldn't post after archery. obviously. But I hope this is soon enough for you. And no, you don't shoot arrows through hoops like in a circus. But at the Christmas and end-of-the-year parties they let us shoot at balloons!**

**To KailaNicole: I wouldn't throw the cookie either. Dang, those things are good. I could really go for one right now... too bad there's none of them in the house *tear***

**To PounceGirl: Did you notice that I used your idea for Fang's outfit? Originally, I was going to make him wear a burnt orange colored shirt, but then I read your review and thought, hmm, that could work. And it did. So thanks!**

**Before I get carried away responding to all of the 50+ reviews I've gotten, let's get on with the story!**

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Even though it wasn't going to officially open for another fifteen minutes, the carnival was packed when we got there. Since it was probably only a little over a mile and a half away from my mom's house, Fang and I walked. I was glad once again that Nudge hadn't forced me to wear high heels; the sidewalk was bumpy and uneven, difficult to navigate even with the boots.

The church where the carnival was being held was nothing special. It was old and made of gray stones, the wooden cross above the entrance damaged by termites. I looked up at it as Fang and I got in line to buy tickets for the rides. Dr. Martinez had said that it was still used, but I wasn't really sure I believed her. If it was still an active church, why was its upkeep so terrible?

I was snapped out of my thoughts as Fang gently touched my arm, and I followed him as we left the ticket line. His hands were in his pockets and he was whistling a tuneless rhythm as we walked around the now-open carnival looking for something fun to do with our tickets.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I asked, looking around. There were a few rides, some games, average carnival stuff I guess. Fang shrugged.

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

"Hmm… not sure. What about the little house of horrors?" I said, pointing to a low building that had a man in a demon costume standing outside and taking tickets as people went in. The sign said that it was a haunted house.

Fang chuckled and followed me toward it. "You're definitely not like most girls," he said as he gave the demon-guy our share of tickets and we stepped inside.

"How so?"

"Most girls would be all freaked out in here," he said, waving a hand to point out our surroundings. The walls were made to look like they were made of rotting wood, and there was a constant groaning through the house. The loose floorboards underneath our feet creaked, and farther down the hallway I heard a girl scream because one of the people dressed up in a costume had probably jumped out of a closet and scared her. Spider webs hung from the ceiling, fluttering in the slight draft that chilled the house.

"I guess I'm not freaked out because I've seen freakier things in my life," I told him as the girl ahead of us screamed again. "Like Erasers, for example."

"Yeah, I guess that tops the list. Or the failed experiments at the School."

I nodded. Those are pretty high up on my 'Freakiest Things' list too. Poor kids, with skin covered in pebbly growths or with their organs literally outside of their bodies. I guess I had to admit that I was glad the scientists had perfected the gene splicing before making me in the lab. Otherwise, I'd probably be six feet under with no gravestone to mark my grave – if the School even buried their failed experiments. Knowing those monsters, they probably just threw the bodies of the dead into the incinerator with the day's trash.

We continued on through the house, running into a couple of the 'monsters' as we made our way through the halls. Unfortunately, they seemed intent on making at least me scared; I even had to pretend to be a chicken just to get one to stop bothering us. After about twenty minutes in there, we came to the exit and set off again in search of something else to do.

When we had gone on about three more rides and played a couple games, we decided to go get something to eat. I bought our snacks, four milkshakes and two frozen bananas dipped in chocolate. We found an empty picnic table set a little ways away from the main carnival, and we sat down to eat.

"This is actually kind of fun," Fang said, taking a big bite out of his banana. "I didn't know what to expect out of a carnival, but I guess it's alright."

"Are you glad you came?"

"Yeah."

I licked the chocolate on the top of my banana. "I'm glad I came. This is… cool. We should do it again sometime."

"Seeing as we're a couple, I think it'd be kind of stupid if we didn't."

I snickered. "Good point."

We finished our shakes and bananas fairly quickly, and decided to go looking for something else to do. After a few minutes of just aimlessly walking around in the crowd, I spotted a little building. Above the entrance, in big neon green letters, a sign read 'FUN HOUSE'.

"Let go in there," I said. "I've heard that fun houses are pretty awesome."

"From who? Nudge?"

"No, from lots of people. And the TV."

"Aw, the television, the most wonderful and accurate source of information on the planet. All hail technology!"

I jabbed him jokingly in the ribs, and we made our way over to the fun house. After paying the guy our tickets to get in, we entered through the little arch into the building.

The first thing I noticed was that it was cold. My miniskirt gave me absolutely no warmth, and I shivered involuntarily. When Fang gave me a worried glance, I smiled reassuringly and pointed to my legs. He understood immediately and nodded.

The second thing I noticed was that the room we were in was totally whacked-out. Christmas lights cast the room in all kinds of different colors, and mirrors lined the walls, making it look like there were a couple dozen people in the room rather than just two. The light reflecting off of the mirrors gave the room a disco-ball effect, making everything sparkle.

"Funky," Fang said, examining himself in a silly mirror. It made him look really short and fat… I'm totally glad he doesn't look like that in real life. It reminded me of the Uber Director, just human. Ick.

"Yeah," I said, looking around at the different mirrors. God, I was starting to get paranoid again just by thinking of the Uber Director. I was already cataloguing exits and looking toward the entrance nervously.

"Relax, Max," Fang said, laying a gentle hand on my shoulder and steering me toward the next room of the fun house. "We're not in any harm here. Itex is gone, remember? The Director is behind bars."

"I know," I said, reaching up to him and resting my hand on his. "I'm just so paranoid all of a sudden. I'm over it now… I think."

He flashed me a crooked smile, making my heart melt. The rest of the fun house was average, with a room full of balloons and one with swirling patterns all over the walls that confused your mind and made you think up was down and left was right. Eventually, when we emerged back into the night and onto a much less crowded carnival ground, I brought my paranoia back under control.

"Looks like their closing the place down," Fang said. "Think we should head back to your mom's?"

"Sure. But I think we should take a little detour first."

"Where do you have in mind?"

"I was thinking of the nice little ice cream shop down the street. You know, get a cone maybe and then go flying."

"That sounds good."

"It's a plan then?"

"Sure."

-----

Twenty minutes later, Fang and I were at the ice cream shop. The Arizona night was warm, but not sticky and hot. Perfect weather. I licked my mint chocolate chip ice cream ravenously, not wanting to waste a single drop of the melting treat. Fang was calmly finishing up his, nibbling on the waffle cone and watching me eat mine.

Just as I was finishing mine, he snickered. I raised an eyebrow, and he reached over and brushed his thumb against my cheek. Something wet and thick and sticky clung to his thumb when he removed it, and I realized that I'd had a glob of green ice cream on my cheek for the last couple minutes. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, sucking the ice cream off of it.

"Hmm… minty," he said. Then he smiled, and we both started to laugh.

We decided to go flying out to the north of town. There was a hill out there where we had sometimes gone on our earlier visits here; it was grassy, something unusual for this part of Arizona, and it was a great place to watch the stars.

After a somewhat clumsy landing, I found a spot of soft young grass and lay down, rubbing my wings against the earth because it felt good. Not as good as silt or sand, but still good. Fang lay down beside me, and together we watched the stars in comfortable silence.

Before I knew what I was doing, my hand began to seek out his. When I found it, my fingers intertwined with his; it felt so natural, like breathing. Or flying. I turned my head a little, and found him watching me.

"Thanks for taking me out tonight," I said, squeezing his hand a little.

"You're welcome."

"I thought it was pretty fun."

"Yeah, I thought so too."

After a while of just watching each other, we found ourselves leaning toward each other. Fang's face was only inches from mine when conscious thought returned, but I didn't care. When his lips touched mine, it was gone again in a flash.

I began kissing him back. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was definitely a kiss I would remember. I would always remember being there, lying on a hillside under the light of a thousand stars and a crescent moon, because no one could've guessed what would happen next.

"Look what we've got here," a voice said. I bolted up into a fighting position, taking in the five hulking forms in front of me. And the net they carried. And that musical voice… but it couldn't be! Itex had been destroyed, their recombinant life forms 'retired'. Right?

"Looks like a couple of lovebirds to me," another voice said, just as musical. "A couple of dead lovebirds." That's when I was sure.

_Erasers!_

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**Cliffy!!**

**Anyhoo, hope this makes up for the last couple of short chapters. And, as always, I'm asking for people to review. I love to hear what people think of my work, and it makes me feel special *and not in the mentally challenged way* so REVIEW!!!!!**


	9. They've Found Us

**I'm so sorry I haven't been able to update in a couple of days! I finally got my hands on a copy of the fifth MR book, and I spent all my free time reading it. So, here's the ninth chapter. Fight scene, folks!**

**To nudge-potter: You can finally eat! Yay!**

**To Randomitis Sufferer: Yep, she's wearing a miniskirt. Definitely not good.**

**To Trin S.: Yep, definitely a little twist in there *grin* Just thought that I should add some suspense/action since there's a lot of it in the actual books.**

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_**Fang's POV**_

There they were, five hulking, snarling, drooling Erasers. Ugh, I guess I can't say I missed seeing these guys around after we defeated Itex. But why were they here? Didn't Itex make them, and wasn't Itex wiped off the face of the earth over a year ago when we saved the world?

But I guess I should be worrying more about the weighted net held between two of them. So, they wanted to catch us. It was strange that Itex should disappear for over a year and then just randomly pop up again. Whatever… I guess I should stop trying to figure out how they got here and start trying to figure out how to get away. Only three of the five Erasers had wings, so we could probably take them on in the air. But the net was a problem; as soon as we began to spread out wings, they'd probably have the net over us and we'd be caught.

Another thing that made me mad was how the Erasers were looking at Max. Now I knew why she never liked to wear skirts and dress girly; guys couldn't stop looking at her. I definitely had a hard time not staring at her, and the Erasers were practically drooling, looking at her bare legs and her pretty face. It was enough to make me sick.

I took a protective stance in front of her, sending off dangerous vibes that I hoped the Erasers would feel and that would make them back off. No one was going to touch my Max.

"Fang, what are we going to do?" Max whispered behind me. "Have you got a plan?"

"I'm working on it." I was trying to see if there was a way to distract the Erasers so that we could get away. Having a certain six-year-old mind-controller would've been awfully handy at the moment. But then we wouldn't have the horrible luck we're so famous for, now would we?

After spending about five seconds assessing the Erasers in front of us, I decided that the best way to get away was to fight our way out. Unfortunately, Max was wearing a miniskirt, so she probably wouldn't be able to fight well. Crap. Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.

One of the Erasers stepped forward, and Max and I immediately took a step back. We were in a stand-off, and the only way to break it was to start the fight. I reached behind me, hoping the Erasers wouldn't see, and tapped Max's wrist three times. It was our way of saying 'Get ready for a major fight'. I didn't need to look over my shoulder to know that she had probably given me a little nod and that she was subtly shifting into battle mode.

Without warning, I launched myself at the nearest Eraser in a roundhouse kick that knocked the breath out of him. As he lost his footing, I dropped down to the ground and swept my legs under his, making him fall to the ground. Then I leapt onto his chest and punched him square in the muzzle, making his eyes roll up into his head. He was unconscious, which was obviously very desirable.

I took out another Eraser with an uppercut to the jaw when I heard her scream. When I whirled to face Max, I saw her in the grips of one of the stupid wolves. "Get off me!" she screamed at it as she pounded at it with her fists and struggled to get away. It had her in a tight grip, and her skirt hindered her. She couldn't fight as well, and she had been caught. This topped the Crap List by a landslide.

When I began to run to them, one of the winged Erasers rammed into me from my side, sending me sprawling on the ground. It laughed down at me as it placed a muddy boot on my shoulder, pinning my down.

"Mind if we have some fun with your girlfriend, freak?" it said mockingly, its jaws gradually getting closer to my throat as it leaned toward me.

"Don't you dare put a hand on her!" I spat at it, grabbing a handful of loose dirt from beside me and throwing it up in the Eraser's face. It howled and tumbled off of me, clawing at its face and screaming with pain. I got to my feet in one fluid motion and kicked it in the groin.

Here's a tip for future references: if you're ever in a street fight, don't fight fair. Use every trick you've got up your sleeves. That's how the Flock has survived so long; we're willing to take off the gloves and play dirty.

"Fang, help!" Max screamed at me, and I rushed to her, where the Eraser holding her was making for a black van about three hundred meters away. I caught up with no effort and yanked her out of his arms, kicking him in the process and then slamming my sneaker into his face. He was going to feel that in the morning.

There were two more left. One of them was holding the net, trying to untangle a knot in the material. I decided to take advantage of the equipment malfunction and make the getaway. Grabbing Max's hand, I launched myself into the sky, snapping out my wings and flapping so that I gained altitude. Max snapped out her own wings and let go of my hand, rising to that she was flying just above me. There were tears on her face.

"Stupid Erasers!" she cried. "Why do they always have to turn up and ruin everything?"

I didn't have an answer for her, but instead I just flipped over onto my back so that I was facing the sky. I pulled her close in a fierce hug, kissing the top of her hair.

"It's going to be okay," I whispered to her. "We'll tough it out. We always do."

"But it was so nice, just being able to live without constantly looking over our shoulders and scanning the area every time we enter a room. I want a normal life, one that doesn't involve evil scientists out to get us and humongous wolf-men."

"It would be nice, but I don't think we'll ever get it."

"Why not?"

"'Cause we're not normal. No matter how hard we try to be, we never really are. Like in Virginia. We acted _normal_, but we weren't ever really even average."

"Hmm… interesting insight."

"I try."

She smiled, and I went back to flying with my stomach to the ground. It really sucked that Itex was back, but at the same time I shouldn't have ever thought it was actually gone. Big companies like that had branches everywhere; it was probably doing all kinds of experiments in foreign countries while we were here living a 'normal' life.

I had to admit, wiping out an entire multi-branched company was pretty dang hard. Not to mention the slobbering, bloodthirsty Erasers after you. I guess the only good thing that came out of this mess was our wings.

**_Max's POV_**

I don't think I've ever hated Itex more. First they make me and the Flock spend the first years of our life in the School, then they kidnapped Angel, then they had the nerve to try to execute us… and now they couldn't even leave Fang and I alone when we were on a date! I swear, if I ever meet who's running Itex now I'm going to kick them in the groin and then hand them over to the police, recommending solitary confinement and small rations.

Another thing I didn't like was this stupid miniskirt. Maybe this would finally convince Nudge that we couldn't afford to wear clothes that keep us from being able to fight our best. Now that the Erasers were back, I'd really need to be careful with my family.

We alighted on top of Dr. Martinez's house and climbed in through a skylight. The Flock, my mom, and Ella were all in the family room, watching a movie I recognized as one of the _Star Wars_ movies.

"Max!" Ella squealed when she saw me. "How was your date?"

When I didn't say anything, a troubled look entered her eyes. Then she saw the bruises, and the blood.

"What happened?" Dr. Martinez asked, shocked.

"We were attacked," Fang said. "We have to leave. Right now."

"Who attacked you? If it was Larry and his gang, I can call the police and tell them his address. He'll be arrested by the end of the hour."

"We were attacked by Erasers," I said quietly. "Itex is back. And they've found us."

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**Poor kids. As always, I'm begging for reviews. I have seventy already, but my goal by chapter 15 is to have 100. So reviews, peeps! Make me feel special!**


	10. I Hate Running

**I'm so so so so so so so incredibly sorry I haven't posted in a couple days. We're having state testing at my school, and all my creative juices are gone. Plus, I just started an original story of mine (that i one day hope to get published!!) and I've been trying to spend time on that as well as my fanfiction. Once again, sorry!**

**Oh, and I don't know why, but for some reason I'm really not satisfied with this chapter. The ending is a little rushed, and I apologize. Please don't flame me! I beg of you!**

**P.S. - There's Eggy in this chapter! Yay!**

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The Flock just stared at me. Shock, anger, sadness… all of it was written on their faces. I felt so bad, but I had had to tell them. Erasers were probably looking for us right now, and this would be one of the first places they looked. So we needed to get out. Right now.

"How can they be back?" Iggy asked, his fist clenching. We might all hate the School for what they did to us, but I don't think any of us hate it as much as Iggy. I mean, jeez, they took his sight! He's going to be blind forever because of them. Something like that just doesn't get forgiven easily.

"I don't know, Ig. Maybe we didn't wipe out every branch like we thought we did." I tried to say it as gently as I could, but I think it came out sounding like a growl. I was totally ticked right now.

"But that's impossible! Angel read that one guy's mind in Australia, and he said that his lab was the last branch."

"Maybe the different branches didn't keep in touch well, Iggy. Or maybe he was thinking that to confuse us and give us false security. Whatever his motive, he seems to have succeeded, considering that Itex is back and already making Erasers."

"I hate them all," he said, his blind eyes hardening. Ella sat down next to him, taking his unclenched hand and intertwining her fingers in his. She looked worried. "Why can't they ever just leave us alone?"

We were all silent, the melancholy mood in the room so dang depressing I thought the radio would just magically turn on and start playing some kind of depressing opera music or something. It sure would've completed the moment.

"Maybe you don't have to go on the run again," Dr. Martinez said slowly, getting up and heading out to the kitchen. "If I can just make a phone call…"

"Huh?" I leaned back to watch as she dialed a number on the kitchen phone. "Who're you calling?"

"Jeb."

-----

No matter how many times he saved our butts, I couldn't help but feel angry and resentful when I saw Jeb. I didn't openly protest when my mom called him, though, even though I wasn't exactly looking forward to see him. But my mom was right; he was probably the only person who could help us with something like this, even if he did betray us a few times.

Jeb arrived only an hour after my mom called him. I wondered if he was stalking us, but then again he seemed to be hanging around the School to make sure that it didn't get back in operation. Either way, I guess I was kind of glad that we knew someone as closely associated with Itex as he was (since he was on our side, of course).

"I'm glad you could make it here quickly," Mom said as she opened the door for him. He looked tired, but I didn't pity him one bit. Even if he was going to help us, he had still betrayed us. And I still wouldn't trust him.

"I wish I could've got here sooner," he said, nodding to us. I think Iggy's eyes narrowed, but since he's blind sometimes it's hard to tell. "Have you seen any other signs of Itex since Fang and Max were on their date?"

"No, thank goodness."

"Good." He moved to the window and peered out, pulling aside the curtain. "Max, do you know if you were followed?"

"I don't think so," I said, trying to think back to when we'd made our escape. "I didn't hear them, anyway."

"Do you think they have to leave?" Mom asked.

"They probably should. At least to go back to their house outside of Seattle. Itex shouldn't know about it, and it's in a much safer location than this house." Jeb looked at us. "It's a shame to cut their visit short, but it's necessary."

"So we have to leave?" Gazzy asked.

"I think you should."

"I'm not leaving until Max says we have to," Nudge said firmly. She looked at me expectantly.

"I think we should too," I said quietly. "We can't put Mom and Ella in any danger."

Everyone nodded, except Iggy. There was a pained look in his eyes. And I knew why. He was going to have to leave Ella earlier than he'd thought. Poor guy. I really didn't want to tear him away from her and make him a fugitive again, but it was the only way we were going to survive. And survival was what always mattered most.

**_Iggy's POV_**

I couldn't believe it. We were going to be on the run… again. This sucked! And the worst part of it was that I probably wouldn't be able to keep in touch with Ella.

Max dismissed us to go pack what we could so that we could be off as soon as possible. As I was packing my last pair of pants and a shirt, I heard a light rap on the door of the guest room Fang and I shared. Fang was already done packing and was out in the living room with Max.

"Come in," I said, and I heard the door open.

"Iggy?" It was Ella.

"Yeah?"

"Iggy, are you okay?"

I shook my head. "I just hate running. But I guess I'll fall into the routine again after a couple days."

I felt the bed move as she sat down on it. "I really wish you could stay. I can't believe Itex just came back like that."

"It definitely isn't the most wonderful thing that's happened to us."

"Yeah, it sucks pretty bad."

"Look, Ella, before I go, I just wanted to tell you… I love you. I love you so, so much."

I felt her get off the bed and walk over to me. She reached up and brushed my bangs out of my face, and I could imagine her gentle face. "I know," she whispered.

And, just like that, we kissed. My lips touched hers, and she kissed me back. We were so close I could feel her eyelashes. I didn't need sight to know that she was beautiful, and I put every feeling for her in that kiss. It didn't last especially long, but it wasn't especially short either.

When we broke apart, I kissed her again, this time on the forehead. "I'm sorry that I have to go," I whispered.

"It's okay," she said, hugging me tightly. "Just stay out of trouble, alright?"

I was so lucky to have her. I was, without a doubt, the luckiest blind mutant on the planet.

**_Max's POV_**

As the Flock gathered back into the living room, each of them carrying a backpack full of clothes, I felt a deep sadness. They were going to have to fly to survive again… they were going to be running for their lives again. All because Itex wasn't willing to give up.

But you know what? We weren't going to just give up either. We were going to fight until the very end.

I shouldered my own backpack, and when I was opening the sliding glass door in the back of the house I heard an ominous flapping sound. When I looked up, I saw them; about fifteen winged Erasers, and before my eyes even widened they dived at me.

I fought with everything I had. Kicking, punching, biting… every move and trick up my sleeve was used. I could see Fang and Iggy fighting back-to-back against three, and Angel was making one of them run into the side of the house over and over, until blood ran all over its face and it collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Jeb was trying to keep the Erasers away from my mom and Ella, who were standing in the door, petrified. They'd never seen the Erasers, and I would've preferred for it to stay that way. But I never get what I want, do I?

As one of the Erasers rushed toward me, I lashed out at him with a hard punch to the gut, and when he doubled over I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the groin. He howled in pain, so I did it again. When he was lying on the ground I kicked him, hard, just for good measure.

Then, just like that, the Erasers were gone. They all took off awkwardly, their patched on wings carrying them up unnaturally. They had a couple of sacks with them, but I couldn't tell if they were full or not. They were flying for a chopper that had been circling in the distance, and as I watched they reached the helicopter and dropped off their sacks before climbing in. I looked around at my Flock.

Everyone was there…

Except for Ella and Fang.

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**Cliffy!**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, even though I was unsatisfied with this chapter. As always, reviews are welcomed, though I would appreciate it if you didn't flame me. My creativity is being pushed to the max right now, so bear with me please! Tomorrow's the last day of testing AND an early dismissal, so hopefully I'll have another chapter up by then.**


	11. Dog Crates and Voices

**Okay, so I actually did most of this chapter today before I went to school. And I'm also posting it before I go to school, so if the AN is a little short that's why. I only have a limited amount of time in the mornings, after all! (though I do have a lot more time than those preppy girls since I just wear my hair in a ponytail instead of spending an hour straightening it)**

**To PounceGirl: Yep, 94 already! Yay!!**

**To goldeneyes20601: No, Ella is not part of the Flock. She just happens to be Max's fragile human sister who always ends up having to be saved by _someone_.**

**

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**

_**Fang's POV**_

As I punched an Eraser in the gut and then did a quick, perfectly executed uppercut to his chin, I saw Ella being grabbed by an Eraser. Even though I was fighting against three with Iggy, I couldn't just let him get away with her. Max would never forgive me if I let them take her sister, and I was pretty sure Iggy would literally kill me. He'd probably stuff a bomb down my throat while I slept or something. So I went to help her.

Of course, it figures that these stupid dog-boys came with new tricks up their sleeves. As soon as I got close to where they were stuffing her in a body bag, I felt one of them grab me from behind. Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to react before they stuffed a cloth over my mouth and nose. A sickly sweet scent filled my nose, and I fought to free myself. I knew what the cloth was covered with: chloroform.

It's really too bad that the scientists at the School hadn't bothered to make us immune to drugs; it would've come in handy. And it would've kept me from slumping down like a rag doll, completely limp. Probably the worse part of it was that I was still semi-conscious, since my system was different from a regular human's. Any normal, full-grown man would've been out cold on the ground, and I was still conscious enough to feel completely humiliated as they put me into another body bag.

Crap. That's the only word that came to mind as I blinked groggily over and over, fighting the effects of the chloroform. Even though the cloth was gone, I'd inhaled some of the drug and it was beginning to play out the not-so-immediate effects.

And then… nothing.

**-----**

I woke up in a dog crate. Of course. My wings burned like fire, and when I tried to move I ended up banging my already-aching head on the roof of my crate.

"Ouch," I said stupidly, rubbing my head. God, I'd forgotten how much I hated being stuck in a cage. I guess all the bad memories have kind of subsided after spending a few years out of one. Now they were all starting to come back: the lights, the noises, the pain, the needles… I shivered involuntarily. There was no doubt in my mind that I'd be turned into a lab rat again. But just because I knew it was going to happen didn't mean I was looking forward to it. After all, how would you like to have needle after needle stuck into your arm and always being drugged up so bad you could barely think? Not exactly a picnic, if you know what I mean.

"Fang? Are you awake?"

"Ella?" I pressed my face against the door of my crate, trying to see toward the spot where her voice was coming from. I could see her now; she was tied to a chair, a bruise forming over her left eye. Those goons were going to get it from Iggy when he found out that they'd hurt her in addition to kidnapping her. I almost felt sorry for them. Almost. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice was soft, scared. "Do you know where we are?"

I thought for a second. "Not sure," I said finally. "But it's definitely not the School."

"How do you know?"

"I don't think they'd risk taking us to a place so close to your home. They'd want to make the Flock tired from travel before they launched an attack on whatever facility we're in. That way, they're less likely to defeat the Erasers and rescue us."

"And more likely to get caught."

"Exactly."

Ella was silent for a while, and I shifted in my crate, trying to get at least a little bit comfortable. It's kind of hard trying to get cozy in a plastic dog crate when all you have are the clothes on your back and sore wings. Not to mention that my stomach's having hunger pangs, but that's minor compared to the entire situation I'm in. I can't even try to escape because I'd have to leave Ella, and I couldn't resist the whitecoats because they could hurt her; either way, I basically had to do everything they wanted to protect her. After all, she was fragile because she was only human. Literally.

"Do you think the others are alright?" Ella asked quietly. "That they got away?"

"I kind of think they chased the Erasers away. But yeah, I'm sure they're fine."

"Do you think… never mind."

"What?"

"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?"

I laughed, which I think kind of startled her. "Get out of here? Of course! Do you really think Max would let them keep us here as prisoners? She'd probably rather let Angel and Nudge dye her hair pink and buy her a purple wardrobe."

Ella smiled, something that definitely made the room just a little brighter. Sure, her smiled couldn't compare with Max's, not by a long shot, but smiles were far and few in-between in places like this. It was good that she was smiling.

Because she probably wouldn't be able to from here on out.

_**Max's POV**_

I couldn't believe it. I just couldn't. In one fight, two of the people I loved, my sister and my boyfriend, were taken away from me. Taken away from the people I hated most. And I didn't even know where they were, or if they were okay. God, I hated this feeling.

It's been an hour since the Erasers took Fang and Ella away. I sat on my bed in the room Nudge and I had been sharing, just staring in shock at the wall. I know, I know… pathetic, right? But I guess when you loose two people at once it takes a pretty big toll on you.

There was a knock on the door, and I was startled out of my staring. "Yeah?" I called.

"Max, can I come in?" It was Iggy.

"Sure, I guess."

I didn't look at him when the door swung open and he came in, sitting down on the bed next to me. His sightless blue eyes were pained, his face the embodiment of grief. He was going through the same pain I was; not only had he lost someone he loved in the not-so-brother-or-sisterly way, but he had also lost a brother. Sure, it was hard for the rest of the Flock to loose a brother and a sister, but I think that we have it a little harder. Not that they aren't suffering at all, it's just not the same kind of grief they're feeling.

"So, when are we going after them?" Iggy asked, turning toward me.

"I don't know," I said, my shoulders slumping. "We don't even have an idea where they went. They had a helicopter, Ig. And they wouldn't try to take them back to the School, 'cause I'm sure that place has been out of operation for a while now."

"Could you ask the Voice?"

I just stared. "The Voice?"

"You know, the one that used to be in your head when we were still trying to save the world two years ago. Do you think you can still talk to it?"

"I don't know if I can," I admitted. "But I guess I'll try."

I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. I'd never _really_ tried to summon the Voice before, and I was a little nervous about the results.

(A/N: Just so everyone knows, _italics = _Max_, _and_ **bold italics** =_ the Voice. Just wanted to make sure no one's confused!)

_Voice?_ I asked.

There was no answer.

_Voice, are you there?_

_**Yes, Maximum. I was never really gone.**_

I snapped open my eyes in surprise. _So you've been here the whole time?_

_**Yes, Max. I've been quiet, though, because I know how much you want things to go back to normal.**_

_Well, they're not normal anymore._

_**I know. Your sister, Ella, and Fang were kidnapped, correct? And you want me to help you find them?**_

_Exactly. Can you help us?_

_**I'm sure that I can at least give you some direction. Fang and Ella are in Boston.**_

_Boston?_

_**Yes. I'll tell you more when you get there.**_

_Thank you, Voice._

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day when I would actually say "Thank you" to the Voice and actually mean it.

_**You're welcome, Maximum. Now hurry. Don't waste any time finding your friends.**_

I mentally snorted. _Like I would risk their lives by playing around. Goodbye, Voice._

_**Goodbye, Maximum, and good luck.**_

My eyes came back into focus, and I looked over at Iggy. He was watching me intently. Well, okay, his eyes were directed about three inches above my forehead, but considering he's blind that's pretty close.

"Boston," I said. "That's where the Voice told me Fang and Ella are."

"Good. And don't even think about telling me to stay behind like in Colorado."

"Don't worry. I wouldn't ask anything like that of you. But I do have one request for you."

"What?"

"Build some bombs. Big ones."

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was kind of fun to write, as morbid as that sounds considering all the grief and stuff. Still, my dad has always said I'm sadistic...**

**Again, I'm begging you to REVIEW! Six more reviews till we reach 100! Whoever gives me my 100th review gets a virtual dollar worth absolutely nothing! So review! You know you want the dollar, you know you want it!**


	12. Nothing is Perfect

**YES! I have gotten over 100 reviews! *happy dance* The absolutely worthless virtual dollar goes to... ****_oceanlover14_! Congrats! Consider me deeply indebted to you for being my 100th review. And to everyone else who's been reading this story and reviewing, I'm indebted to you also! It's all for you, my faithful fans! You're the ones who keep me going!**

**To Evilhunterperson: Okay, the reason I'm not putting in the overflowing sarcasm you find in the books is 'cause I can't write humor for crap. Not even to save my life. Pathetic, isn't it? I'm better with more serious writing, so I try to use my style to my advantage. And I hope that I don't screw up, because I'm definitely not trying to.**

**To Alyssa4Music4Life: I agree. It must so hard to be Iggy.**

**To ed: Hope this is soon enough for you. And you owe me 'cause I loaned you the fifth book today, so log in next time, okay? And I'll help you with your profile tomorrow. Oh, and don't smack me! It's bad enough that you make fun of my enthusiasm (I know I spelled that wrong) every single day; there's no need to bring physical violence into this, is there?**

**Before I get carried away, let's get on with the story!**

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Boston. I had to say, I wasn't exactly expecting that. I mean, Boston is a thriving metropolis. Who could be stupid enough to put a research facility that experiments on innocent children there? Then again, Itex had managed to hide the Institute in New York, so I guess I really shouldn't be surprised.

Considering that Fang and Ella had been taken pretty late at night, we'd decided to stay the night before setting out. I really didn't want to, but my mom pressured me. "Think of the little kids," she'd said. "They're going to have a long journey ahead of them. Let them have one more night of rest."

I don't think any of us slept that night, though. We were all too sad and on edge. There was still a possibility that the Erasers would come back and attack us again, so we all camped out in the living room together. I made sure that a part of me touched every one of them, that way if I fell asleep I would wake up if any of them moved. My old paranoia from our original escapade was resurfacing, and I lay on the floor with my back to Iggy's, my feet touching Nudge, an arm around Angel and the Gasman touching my other arm, which kept my cheek off the rough carpet. I remembered sleeping like this when we were running from Itex the first time, and I smiled bitterly as I thought back to those days. At least we'd all been together; now we were torn apart. Again. First Angel, now Fang… God, when were these guys going to just give up and leave us alone?

As soon as the sun was peeking up over the horizon, the Flock and I left. We'd put a little note for my mom on the dining room table because she wasn't up yet, and then we took off, using our internal compasses to head northeast.

One of the only things I could be thankful for at the moment was being back in normal attire. The combat boots I was wearing didn't rub against my legs like the dressier boots I'd worn on my date, and the jeans made me feel soooo much less exposed. Also, the tank top and hoodie I was wearing didn't make me feel like I was being strangled. At least I'd be able to fly comfortably, though the thought of my boyfriend stuffed into a cage and my sister probably in some cell somewhere made me feel really bad that I was worrying about my own comfort like that.

We flew for nearly six hours before we finally touched down outside of a little town somewhere in Colorado. The younger kids were starving, so we bought some food with my magical Maximum Ride card and gorged ourselves. Once again, thinking of Fang and Ella made me feel bad, this time because I was stuffing myself with food; they probably hadn't had anything to eat since they were kidnapped, and probably wouldn't for a while.

_**You need your strength, Maximum,**_ the Voice said. Luckily, I was too spaced out to really flinch in front of the others. I didn't need to make them worry. Truthfully, the only one who knew the Voice was back was Iggy, and he hadn't told the littler kids. _**And the only way for you to do that is to keep yourself fit. Get enough food and rest. Don't feel bad for helping keep yourself strong.**_

_And how am I supposed to do that, Voice? I can't help it. They're probably being tortured for all I know, and I'm stuffing my face with cheeseburgers._

**_If you aren't strong, you can't help them. They'll understand._**

_How do you know?_

It didn't answer. Figures. It hardly ever answers a direct question. Sure, it was willing to help when I asked it where Fang and Ella were, but it couldn't answer a simple question like that. Sometimes I really do wonder whether I'm going crazy or not.

From Colorado, we were able to get to Illinois before we had to touch down again, this time to make camp. The first thing I did once the fire was burning was impale a Pop-Tart from my backpack on a stick and roast it over the flames. I guess old habits die hard.

When I was settling down that night, I looked up at the stars. Fang used to love the stars; he's said they made him feel so free. For the first ten years of our lives, we hadn't seen any stars. We'd barely seen sunlight, and that was only when it shone through the windows.

"Max?" It was Angel, who was lying right next to me.

"Yeah, sweetie?" I whispered, not wanting to wake the others, who were on the verge of sleeping. A dozing Gazzy was leaning up against Iggy, who was nodding off. Nudge was on my other side, and her breathing was slow. I think she was asleep.

"How'd you know that Itex had taken Ella and Fang to Boston?"

"The Voice is back. It told me."

"That makes sense then. I thought for a second that you were a mind-reader like me."

I laughed quietly and ruffled her blonde curls. "Nah, you're still unique in that aspect."

"Another thing. The Erasers are… different."

"What?"

"They weren't thinking about the helicopter. They weren't thinking about flapping, or even about where they came from. They weren't thinking… anything."

"Robots?"

"No, 'cause I could control their minds. They were trained not to think, to act on instinct yet somehow follow orders."

I pondered this for a second, and then said, "Do you think Itex trained them to be that way?"

"Maybe. I don't know, Max. I couldn't get anything out of them, not one drop of information."

That really sucks. I mean, even though she's only about eight years old, Angel is our primary source of information. With her mind-reading powers, she can pretty much extract anything from our enemies. Names, addresses, orders… you name it, Angel can get it. To know that she couldn't get anything out of these Erasers was kind of scary, but only because it meant that know we were blind to their motives. I mean, sure, they wanted to capture us – that was pretty obvious – but why were they even back? How could a company on the verge of collapse come back stronger than ever? And what was in store for us if we did get caught? More experimentation?

My dreams when I finally fell asleep were not pleasant. They were full of darkness, and pain, and horror. I was incredibly glad to wake up in the morning, where the world was light, and less painful, and filled with just a little less horror.

But that didn't mean it was perfect.

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**Okay, I hope you liked it. It was only a filler chapter, and I know it was pretty short. Don't worry, the next one will be better. I probably won't be able to update immediately because I'm going to be busy this weekend: first I'm going to get my hair cut, then I'm going to the stables to get my horseback riding evaluation, then I'm sleeping over at my friend's house *coughcoughedcoughcough*, _then_ I'm going to try to get all my homework done.**

**As always, reviews are much wanted. Now that I've gotten my 100 reviews, I'm setting my sights on 150. *wiggles eyebrows* I hope to have that many by Chapter 20, so help me out now and REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!**


	13. Weak

**I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry I haven't been able to update the last couple days. I've been uber busy with horseback riding lessons, archery, tons of homework, and all kinds of other crap. Hope you can forgive me, and that this chapter satisfies you until I can get the next chapter up.**

**I'm honestly not that satisfied with this particular chapter. Then again, I'm never really that satisfied with my writing; I'm always really critical of my works, and sometimes I'll end up deleting a story because I just can't stand it anymore, even when I worked on it for weeks (don't worry, I'm not deleting this story. I still have a lot planned for it, and enough people like it that I don't think I'll be giving up on it anytime soon)**

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**_Ella's POV_**

I guess I never really thought of what a horrible place the School could be. Sure, I'd listened to the Flock when they told me about it, but I could never grasp how awful the place could really be. Now I understood.

Men in uniform white lab coats with clipboards and glasses would come into the room where I was tied to a chair and Fang was in a cage. They left me alone for the most part – after all, I was only human. Literally. Fang, on the other hand, was taken away what seemed like every couple of hours, and he would return looking pained and sometimes with bruises or wounds. I didn't know what they did to him, but I guessed that it wasn't good. The only thing he told me was that he didn't want to talk about it. And I didn't pry.

Then, after spending about two days in this place (it was hard to tell with no windows), Fang didn't come back. The scientists had taken him away probably a few hours ago, and they hadn't brought him back yet. I began to squirm against the chair; the only time I was allowed out of this thing was when they 'escorted' me to the bathroom every once in a while. I couldn't loose him; he was all I had left of the outside world, of Iggy and my sister and even my mom. God, my mom. She was probably frantic. I strained against the nylon ropes keeping me against the chair, biting my lip a little as I tried to loosen the knot keeping it all together. So far, though, I couldn't do it. I was too weak.

I felt like a weakling. Max would've been able to break out of this by now; heck, even Angel would've been able to free herself. But I couldn't. I guess being human is a real disadvantage when you're in a hostage situation. Especially when your captors are whacked-out scientists bent on world domination.

I stopped struggling after a while, leaning forward against the ropes. It was hopeless. There was no way I was going to get out of here. Not tied up like this and helpless. I hated this helplessness, hated being tied up and a prisoner. Now I could definitely see why Max had hated it here so much.

After a couple of hours of just sitting there, I heard the door open. When I looked up, three Erasers were locking Fang back into his cage. He looked shaken and wary.

"What happened?" I asked when the Erasers were gone.

The answer was the same as always: "Nothing."

**_Max's POV_**

It took us almost five days until we were on the Atlantic coast, down near southern Pennsylvania. It would probably take another half a day or so until we got to Boston, and who knew how long it would take to find the Itex branch? I really hoped it wouldn't take long, because I didn't know what was happening to Fang and Ella but I would bet money that it wasn't something good.

We were flying over the border into New York when Nudge flew closer to me.

"Max, I think we need to stop for food again," she said hesitantly, her eyes downcast. "We're all getting hungry, and I can see a couple of fast food joints below."

I sighed and looked down. McDonald's, Burger King… there were a few different choices in the little town we were flying over. I looked over at the other kids; Angel was chatting with Iggy, and Gazzy was making lazy loops as he flew. They all looked kind of hungry, so I figured that it couldn't do any harm to stop for a quick bite.

"Okay guys, we're going down for some food," I called to them, angling my wings down and letting myself drop toward the earth. I heard the others behind me, and I found a dark alley close to one of the restaurants; beating my wings to slow my descent, I landed next to an old dumpster, folding my wings close to my back as soon as my boots touched the floor. The rest of the Flock landed behind me, and together we walked out into the main street.

As soon as we walked through the door to a little pizza parlor, my mouth began to water like I hadn't eaten for days. We ordered four pizzas and sat down at a booth, waiting impatiently for our food.

"So, how are we going to do this thing?" Iggy asked, leaning back and stretching stiff muscles.

"Hmm, I guess we get in, get Ella and Fang and get out." I played with a lock of my hair. "We won't really be able to make a strategy until we see what we're up against."

"Good point."

"When we do get there, how are we going to get in?" Gazzy asked.

"I figured we could probably try the vents," I said. "Erasers are too bulky to follow us in there, and the scientists wouldn't be able to maneuver if they chased after us. Not to mention that they wouldn't be fast enough to keep up."

I think I saw Gazzy shudder a little. Being raised in dog crates tended to make you claustrophobic, and none of us liked tight spaces. And vents were very, very tight. It wouldn't be a picnic, but it was probably the only way to get into whatever facility was holding Fang and Ella. After we got back our missing family members, we could just bust the closest window and fly away. It would be easy to get out, but what would be tricky was getting in.

As soon as the pizzas were set down in front of us, we devoured them. Some of the other customers stared at us in awe, watching us scarf down our food like a pack of rabid wolves. I ate a whole pizza by myself; I was incredibly hungry, and the food tasted really good. Using my oh-so-wonderful Maximum Ride card, I paid for the food and within a few minutes the Flock was back in the air, heading northeast toward Boston.

After four hours of intense flying, pushing ourselves as fast as we could possibly go, we were finally over the eastern part of Massachusetts, almost to Boston. The sun was just beginning to sink below the horizon, and soon we'd have to think about setting up camp for the night. I shook my bangs out of my face as I looked down on the thriving metropolis that dominated the coast. Somewhere down there, Fang and Ella were being held captive by my oldest enemy.

That's when I heard wing beats. They weren't light, like those of my Flock, but instead heavy and labored, as though supporting great weight. I looked behind me and saw a squad of five Erasers flying toward us, already morphing into their wolf forms.

Just my luck.

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**Hehe, left you with a little cliffy. Don't worry, the next chapter's going to be having some requested humor in it. Again, I wasn't that happy with this chapter. I kind of rushed writing it, but that was because I wanted to post this before I went to bed. Hope you liked it at least a little, and hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up soon. Until then, please continue to review. It's reviews that keep me going with this (that's one of the reasons I haven't updated my Heroes story in forever - no one's reviewing)**

**Well, I guess that's it for now. I'll try to get the fourteenth chapter up soon, and I hope you'll continue to read my story. This was a filler chapter, so I hope you didn't expect it to be anything special. The next chapter will be better though, I promise.**


	14. Bad Art

**It's kind of weird; this chapter took probably one of the least amounts of time to write, yet it's the longest. *scratches head, confused* I'm pretty satisfied with at least the first half of it, and I hope you guys like it.**

**To bv: Sorry, I can't check you out on Myspace. I don't have an account on there, and I'm not allowed to join. I tried to look you up, though, but a couple of people came up and I don't know which one you are. Once again, sorry!**

**To fanofeverything: Thanks. It makes me glad to know that I sound like a professional (since I'm trying to become one).**

**To Midge: Hope I hurried enough for you.**

**To nudge-potter: You can breathe again! I'm sorry if I made you wait a while, but I bet you set a world record holding your breath until I updated.**

**Before I get carried away, let's get on with the story!!**

* * *

"Erasers at seven o'clock," I said, hopefully low enough that they wouldn't hear me. Angel looked behind us, her eyes unfocused and her face all scrunched-up like when she's using her ability. She turned back to me after a few seconds and gave a discouraged grunt.

"I still can't hear their thoughts," she muttered angrily. I knew she hated it when she couldn't use her power; I hated it too, because that meant that there were only two options left: flight or fight. Literally. The only problem now was which one to choose. We could easily run away from a battle, but we could easily win a battle with these losers too.

"Let's see if there's somewhere to hide," I said, choosing option one. If we fought these weirdoes, there was a chance that one of us might get hurt. I needed every one of my little troopers if we were going to storm Itex, and we would all have to be healthy and strong. I couldn't risk more of my family getting hurt. After all, we got into one of our worse situations when we fought Erasers and Ari gored Fang. We'd had to go to a human hospital and everything, and I really didn't feel like doing that again. At least not until after we saved Ella and Fang and I knew they were safe.

I scanned the city below, hoping beyond hope that there was somewhere large, crowded, and accessible to get into. Sure, I didn't like crowded spaces at all, but they were easy to loose Erasers in. Plus, if there were people around, Erasers were less likely to attack us with possibly hundreds of people watching them. We were safe if we found a place like that.

"I think I found your place," Angel shouted, pointing down at a spread-out building. _It fits your description of a hiding place,_ she explained to me in my mind.

"Do you know what it is?" I asked, angling my wings down. There was a school bus parked outside, and kids maybe Junior High age were climbing out of it and going into the building. Crowded… large… seemed like a good place to hide.

"I think it might be the Museum of Bad Art. I watched a program about it once on TV, and it looks really similar to the picture they showed."

"The Museum of Bad Art? Oh my God, I love that place! It's so amazing inside, and the pictures are so colorful. I wonder what kind of paint they used. Gosh, I bet the paintings in there took forever to paint. Max, how long do you think it would take to paint a picture? I tried once, and it took me _forever_. Do you remember that picture, Max? It was of strawberries! Wow, I could really go for-" I slapped a hand over Nudge's mouth and felt it keep moving underneath. Only Nudge could go from talking about a museum to strawberries. A trait she didn't seem afraid to share.

"Let's just go," I said, speeding up my descent. When I was a hundred feet above the ground, I extended my wings to their full extent, letting them slow me until my feet touched the pavement of the little alley below like I'd just jumped up from the ground. I pulled my wings in tight and made sure my windbreaker was covering them as the rest of the Flock landed beside me and did the same.

We were at the back of the building, and we hurriedly walked to the front, where the entrance was packed with students. In the sky, I could see the five forms that were the Erasers pursuing us; from here, a human might just think they were big crows or pigeons. But as I watched them descend toward the city, where they could land and come after us, I knew better than the average human. What was it Marian Jensen, former leader of Itex, had said? That I'd been created to be smart? Huh, I guess she was right.

After sneaking past the students, we made our way to the front desk and paid for our tickets. Sure, I could've just let Angel tell the lady to let us in without payment, but there were enough people here that someone might've noticed. I ended up just using my credit card. I was starting to see why people were so addicted to these things, though my case is different considering that I didn't have to pay for what I bought. Pretty cool, right?

The lady nodded to us as she swiped the card and handed it back to me. Giving us our tickets, she pointed us in the right direction for a tour. I wasn't here for a tour, but I guess it was something to do while we waited out the Erasers. Plus, Nudge seemed excited at the idea of looking at art. I guess she deserved to have a little treat.

We walked through the museum for a while, looking at the pieces of art leisurely. In reality, though, I was itching to go; I wanted to get to Ella and Fang as soon as possible. Plus, my old claustrophobia was coming back because the museum was somewhat crowded with middle school students and old artsy geezers.

"Max? What's this painting about?" Angel was pointing to a painting that showed a gladiator walking through a field of daisies… with no pants on and no underwear, naked expect for the armor on his chest.

I spun her around. "You don't want to know, sweetie," I said, steering her toward a painting of a face. At least there was nothing inappropriate in this picture. "It's not exactly kid-friendly. Let's leave it at that."

"But I want to know."

_Angel, this isn't a discussion we should be having here_, I thought to her. _It's not kid-appropriate, and I don't really think you're ready to learn about the male anatomy yet. That can wait until you're older._

"Fine," she mumbled, going off with Nudge to look at a painting of red poppies. At least the flowers were innocent enough.

We looked at the art for a little over an hour, striking poses for each other in front of the landscape paintings once in while. I was almost glad Iggy was blind when we were in the museum; there were so many pictures of half-naked girls or women in this place that he probably would've been in heaven. The sexist pig.

But he's _my_ sexist pig. Just like Angel is _my_ baby, Nudge is _my_ motormouth, Gazzy is _my_ gasser, and Fang is _my_ right-wing man gone boyfriend. No matter what, I always have the Flock to lean on.

I'm a lucky girl.

**_Fang's POV_**

_Darkness… that was all I ever saw anymore. No matter how hard I tried to see the light, I couldn't. Not trapped in this world of black and gray, where nothing seemed to be alive._

"_Fang!" I heard my name called through the darkness, and I turned toward it, running with my wings tucked close to my back. The concrete jungle around me seemed to lean in, trying to trap me here in this void of a world. But I wouldn't be trapped. Not if she was here._

"_Max!" I yelled, trying to find her. She'd called my name; I knew this wasn't a trick. Not this time. I stumbled over a curb but kept running, running through the empty city, the sound of my feet pounding against the sidewalk the only noise in this abandoned place._

"_Fang!" Her voice was louder this time, and when I turned a corner I saw her. She was huddling against an alley wall, red blood oozing from her side and her face all scratched up. An Eraser was standing over her, drool dripping from his fangs as he leaned toward her._

"_Get away from her!" I rushed at it and pulling my fist back to make a hard punch to its jaw. But before I could land a blow, the Eraser backhanded me and sent me flying into the opposite wall, my head hitting the hard brick with a crack. I saw stars, but through the stars I saw the Eraser grab Max by the wrist and turn her around, exposing her back. He grabbed one of her wings._

_My head still spinning from the collision with the wall, I tried to shout at him, to threaten him that if he so much as touched her he would pay. But I never got the chance, because Max's screams filled the air as the Eraser began to pull, pulling on her wing like he was going to rip it off. Then I heard the bones in them beginning to break._

"_MAX!" I shouted, lunging forward, but the Eraser sent my flying back about twelve feet. From the ground, I watched in horror as the Eraser picked her up and slung her over his shoulder as she sobbed with pain. Her wing was nearly torn in two._

"_Why couldn't you protect me?" she cried as I struggled up, but then the Eraser was standing over me again, a smelly hand on my throat. I snarled at him, and his grip tightened. "Why couldn't you protect me, Fang? I thought you loved me."_

"_I do," I said. The Eraser's grip tightened even more; I knew he was going to kill me. But I didn't care anymore. All that mattered was Max. She was all that had really mattered. "I love you more then you'll ever know, Max."_

_Then the Eraser began to smile. "Maybe I shouldn't kill you yet," he said, releasing his grip around my neck but pushing me to the ground, a grimy boot pressed on my shoulder to make sure I couldn't get up. "Maybe I should make your girlfriend watch me break you piece by piece."_

_He set Max down on the earth and cracked his knuckles. I growled at him from under his boot, and his fist came smashing into my face._

The fluorescent lights were much too bright behind my eyelids.

_I felt my skull practically break under the force._

I could hear the beeping of the machine I was hooked up to, fast and erratic.

_I didn't cry out in pain, but my jaw tightened and the Eraser dealt another blow right to my nose, breaking it. Blood ran down my face._

The scientists were talking. Those sick things that dared to call themselves human.

_The Eraser picked me up by my shirt collar, leaning over me and studying my bloodied face. "Bye-bye, birdie," he said, opening his mouth to rip my throat out. Facing death, I did the only thing I could think of: I spat right in his face, a glob of saliva going right into his eye. It really seemed to tick him off._

"_You're gonna die for that," he snarled. Before I knew what had happened, his teeth were at my jugular, and he was closing his jaw._

My eyes opened. The test must've been finished and the drugs must've run out; there was no other way that I could be awake. My head ached, almost like the pain had been real; I knew it wasn't, that it was only in my head like it always was. Just stimulated pain. These tests were all the same, all designed to put me under the most stress my body and mind would allow.

A whitecoat saw my open eyes and quickly detached an IV from my arm and unhooked me from a machine. I watched him expressionlessly, even though the rage was hard to hold back. This time they'd involved Max, my Max, using her to their advantage. To test me. It was sick and wrong, and I had a hard time holding back to urge to just pummel them to death. They deserved that kind of punishment, but I had to make sure Ella was safe, and the only way to do that was to keep the status quo.

"You can take it back to its cage now," the whitecoat said to an Eraser by the door to the lab. Still groggy from the sedative drugs, I watched as the Eraser undid the leather cuffs keeping me on the metal table they had laid me on during testing. I eased myself off and walked toward the door; I knew the routine by now, and if I didn't resist I wouldn't be hurt. I had to stay as healthy as I could in this place if I was going to escape, especially now that I had Ella to look after.

As we walked back to the room where the scientists kept my cage and Ella's chair, I couldn't help but shudder as I thought of the Max in the test, bloody and crying. But that's exactly how I could tell it apart from real life; Max didn't act like that. She was tough, and she would never beg for help. And she almost, _almost_, never cried. That's always how I can tell the real her apart from the ones that haunt me in my dreams, both the drug-induced ones and the nightmares when I sleep naturally. I always see her needing my help… and I know that it's not really her. Max is the strongest person I've ever met, and she would never need my help. I'm usually the one needing her.

After I was back in my cage and the Eraser was gone, Ella looked at my worriedly. She was tied up in her chair like always.

"What happened?" she asked. Even though she knew I wouldn't tell her, but she still asked it every time I was taken away for a test. She didn't need to know that I was being tortured and that every test was a complete nightmare.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I extended my wings as much as my small crate would allow and leaned against the side, closing my eyes and slowing my breathing. The drugs still hadn't worn off, and I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness again. But before I did, I answered Ella.

"Something horrible."

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**Okay, so there's chapter 14. I have 130 reviews so far! You guys rock, and thanks so much! Hopefully the next chapter will be up soon, so hang with me and I hope this kept you satisfied. I didn't think it turned out too bad, except for Fang's drug-induced dream. I was kind of rushing it, but overall I don't think I did too bad of a job with this.**

**Oh, and review! Please! *puppy eyes* I'm still aiming for 150 reviews, so help me reach my goal and REVIEW!**


	15. A New Challenge

**ZOMG, I did it! 154 reviews! *happy dance* I can't believe it! You guys rock, and thanks so much! My goal is reached, and I have now set a new one. I'm looking for 200 reviews by chapter 20. C'mon, guys, just 46 more.**

**Oh, and please forgive me if this chapter has one or two errors in it. I already corrected a couple, but I'm completely tuckered out, and my legs hurt like heck because I had to do bareback riding for my horseback riding lesson today. Jeez, the horse I used had an uber bouncy trot, and I almost fell off a couple times (a result of my klutziness). Plus, it's after midnight, so I'm pretty tired. Again, please forgive me if you find a couple errors in this chapter.**

**One more thing: please go on to my profile and vote on my poll. It has to do with this story and what direction it's going to go in, so I want at least 10 unique voters before I'm able to continue. There will be a reminder reguarding this at the bottom, because I'm hoping to get the ten voters fast so that I can start writing again fairly quickly. I'm not going to even start writing the next chapter until I see that at least ten people have voted on the poll, so vote! VOTE! The fate of one of the characters depends on it! (and, if you've been paying attention, you might know who that character is. hint: lots of obsessive fans, myself included)**

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After ditching the Museum of Bad Art, we explored Boston on foot. Making sure that we'd lost the Erasers, we headed toward the downtown districts. I felt claustrophobic in the crowds, but I reminded myself that it was probably safer for us to be like this. Most of the teenagers and young adults passing us were dressed like us, in hoodies and jeans, though some wore heavier clothes since it was winter. Luckily, though, Boston seemed to be a little warmer than normal this year, so walking around without a jacket wasn't as weird as it might've been last year or the year before that. We looked normal, something that was normally pretty hard for us to achieve.

We basically wandered aimlessly around the city, searching for a sign, any sign, that could tell us where the branch of Itex was. That was one thing I hated about big cities – you never knew where you were. Everything looked the same; it was always concrete sidewalks, honking cars blocked up in unmoving traffic, construction crews trying their best to get the endless stream of cars past their active zones. It was noisy and busy, much too busy for me. I'd rather be stuck in a desert somewhere for a year than in a city for the same amount of time. At least I knew what kind of rats to eat in the desert if I ever needed extra food.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" Gazzy asked as we passed a small park for the fourth time. I realized that we were going in circles, and I changed direction.

"Yes," I lied, turning down a street and walking past the dozens of little privately owned shops that lined it.

_Voice? Any ideas?_ I asked, my impatience growing. This place all looked the same; how was I supposed to find the secret lair of an evil company in a city like this?

_**Look for something that reminds you of the School**_, the Voice said. _**Itex is being much too obvious with its new name.**_

_New name?_

_**Yes. Do you speak any Latin?**_

I certainly wasn't expecting that. _No, not really. I know some French, though, so I might be able to recognize something if I saw it._

**_In that case, I'm sure you'll know Itex's new name as soon as you see it. Especially after you read the slogan._**

_Why can't you just tell me what they're called nowadays and make my life that much easier?_

I swear the Voice chuckled._**That would be too easy, Maximum. If I just gave you the answers, you would never work to reach your goals. You wouldn't have saved the world if I had told you how. The same principle applies to this situation.**_

_Voice, you're really getting on my nerves. My sister and my best friend… no, my boyfriend, are in grave danger and you're telling me how to save them with riddles._

**_Life is one large riddle, Maximum. Only a select few are able to solve it and live to their full potential. I just want you to be one of those people._**

_I can be one of them AFTER I save my family._

_**No, you have to start now. You're only given one life, Max. How are you going to live it?**_

_You want to know how I'm going to live my life, Voice? _I asked_. Fine. I'm going to kick Itex's butt for the last time and make sure that they've been wiped off the face of the earth. Then I'm going to live happily ever after with my family. The end. That's the kind of life I want, nothing more and nothing less. I just want to be happy and with the ones I love._

**_Deep words, Maximum. You sound almost like an adult._**

_The keyword in that sentence being 'almost'. If I ever meet you in person I might just shove my foot up your butt and kick you into next week._

The Voice sighed._**You still hate me, don't you?**_

_Not really. You're just so dang annoying sometimes that I wish you'd just appear in front of me so I could slap you silly._

**_You'll thank me later, I guarantee it._**

_Yeah, well, right now I'm not so thankful._

**_Though you do owe me for giving you clues to help you find Fang and Ella._**

_True. I guess you're right about that. How about we say I won't slap you if I ever meet you and we'll call it even?_

The Voice didn't answer me, but in a way I was thankful for that. I turned my attention to my Flock, who were loyally following me through the crowded streets without much complaint at all. They all looked tired and worn out, but they were my brave troopers and would be ready to do battle in a moment's notice.

"Guys, I just had a little conversation with the Voice."

Iggy perked up a little. "Oh yeah? It have anything good to say?"

"It says we should look for something that reminds of us of the School. And that Itex is operating under a new name."

"No wonder we thought they were gone," Angel said. "All the branches using the name 'Itexicon' were the ones we wiped out. We didn't think about them using other names to draw away attention."

Nudge was silent for a while, an unusual thing for her. Then she spoke up.

"Do you think the new name would have anything to do with science?"

"Huh?"

"I saw a banner back there, announcing the grand opening of a new research facility. The company that runs it is called Scientia."

I remembered the Voice asking me if I spoke Latin. So that's what he meant. Scientia is Latin for science… then that would mean…

"Nudge, I think you just solved our problems," I said.

"Wait, what?"

"The Voice said that I would need to know Latin to understand Itex's new name. Scientia is Latin for science. I think that the company might be Itex in disguise. Do you know exactly where you saw that banner?"

"Sure. I can take you there so we can look at it."

We sped-walked back in the direction we'd just come from, going as fast as could be considered semi-normal by human standards. After all, we could run probably twice as fast as a non-mutant person; wouldn't it be a little weird to see five kids zipping down the sidewalk faster than they should be able to go according to the laws of Mother Nature?

We were going past a tall, fancy office building when Nudge stopped and pointed up. "There it is," she said, obviously pleased that she'd been able to lead us to it without any backtracking or delays involved. I looked up at the bright green banner, reading the bright white print while stifling the urge to just fly up at it and rip it to shreds.

The banner read something like this:

GRAND OPENING!

HAROLD BLACK RESEARCH CENTER

SAVING THE WORLD WITH TODAY'S SCIENCES

Then, underneath the text, there was an intricate little logo for a company, and underneath 'Scientia' was printed in an old-fashioned font. Once I might've been fooled, but over the last couple of years I've gone through so much that practically nothing could fool or surprise me anymore. Sure, I could still be shocked at something and surprised on a small scale, but a year ago I might've freaked out hearing that the world-dominating scientists of Itex were still in operation under a different name. Now, all I did was stare coldly at the bright green banner, watching it flap slightly in the breeze.

_Fang and Ella are there_, I thought. _They're at the research center. All that's left to do is find out where it is._

_**Easier said then done**__,_ the Voice reminded me.

_You got any ideas?_

**_As a matter of fact, I do. Go into the office building and pick up a pamphlet on the facility at the main desk. There will be information that you might find helpful._**

_Wow, you're actually telling me to do something without using riddles. That's a big step for you, Voice. Maybe next time you'll be able to tell me an exact address or something._

**_I'm giving you a break this time, Maximum. That doesn't mean I'll give you any others in the near future._**

_I can still hope, can't I?_

As always, once the Voice had said its final word it disappeared. I headed into the office building, my hands in my pockets and I stared up at the shiny windows and steel supports. The Flock followed me inside, and the lobby was warm and inviting, though just being in here gave me the jitters.

"Why are we in here, exactly?" Gazzy asked.

"The Voice told me I would find something useful in a packet," I said, going over to the main desk and looking at the pamphlets lined up on the smooth wood. I found the ones for the center, bright green like the banner, and took a copy. I flipped it open and scanned through it. "And I think I know what it meant."

I showed them what I had found. Apparently, there was going to be a grand opening party at the center in two days. There was going to be a tour, entertainment, refreshments… and, for five resourceful bird kids bent on a rescue, a chance to find Fang and Ella. It couldn't get any better than that, could it?

Obviously, I didn't want to wait two days to rescue Fang and Ella. But the grand opening party was when security was going to be lowest and we had the best chance of getting past the Erasers I was sure were going to be there. It wouldn't be hard to slip away from the main group and find our way to our missing comrades. It was almost too easy. Almost, but not quite. It was still a challenge, one I was strangely looking forward to.

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**Okay, not my best chapter, but I don't think it turned out all that bad. At least not considering the fact that I wrote it at midnight. *yawn* Gosh, I'm awful sleepy. Maybe I'll go to bed... yeah right! Ha! I'll probably end up staying up until 5 reading fanfiction and writing some more.**

**URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**** - Go to my profile and vote on my poll. It has to do with this story, and I won't continue until I get ten unique voters on the poll. So, dear readers, if you have an account you owe it to all the people reading this story (including yourself) to go and vote. All it takes is a couple little clicks, so VOTE! And do it as soon as you exit out of this story so that I can continue with the story faster! The fate of one of the main characters depends on it! (you should all know who that is. If not, here's a hint: many obsessed fans, myself included)**

**And, as always, I'm requesting reviews! My new goal is 200 by chapter 20, so REVEIW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!**


	16. One and the Same

**Hey, I was actually able to write this chapter pretty fast! And this is, technically, the second chapter in one day (since I posted after midnight) so DOUBLE POST!!!! Yay!!! And according to my poll, 6/10 voters think something should happen to Fang. Sorry to the other 4 voters and everyone who agrees with them, but I promise Fang isn't going to die. Though I can't promise a happy ending, seeing as I'm not exactly sure how this is going to end.**

**To Miz636: I'm sorry that Fang has to go through more - I really am - but I hope you keep reading and enjoying the story. Oh, and thanks for reading and commenting on my "Letting Go" story; I've only gotten 100 hits on that and I worked on it for, like, a few hours. *cries***

**To nudge-potter: Don't worry, you'll be getting your action. Some in this chapter, some in the next ones.**

**To SunStorm raining: Yeah, I've spent A LOT of time working this out.**

**To IBleedAndIBreatheNoMore: Thanks so much, it means a lot to me! *bow***

**Okay, this chapter starts and ends in Fang's POV with a small break for Max's. I'm kind of satisfied with this chapter, but not as much as some of my previous ones. Enjoy!!**

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**_Fang's POV_**

I was used to them coming to take me away by now and leading me through the halls to the lab. But this time it was different. The halls were full of people cleaning, busier than I'd ever seen them. People in both white lab coats and blue janitor uniforms were bustling through the halls, scrubbing the white tiles that made up the floor until they shone and repainting the walls until they were almost blindingly white. It was like they were trying to impress someone. Maybe they were.

When I arrived at the lab after being roughly shoved along by a couple of Erasers, I noticed that the atmosphere was different. Sure, there were still the sick curiosity vibes that were characteristic of the scientists, but there was something else too. A kind of apprehension, of almost nervousness. I didn't like the feel of it.

Instead of the usual dream-machine (as I called it) ready to manipulate my brain into making me dream what the scientists wanted me to, there was just a plain metal table in the room. No machine, nothing of the stuff used in the usual tests.

But, on a smaller table beside the big one, there were instruments laid out on a sanitary cloth. Surgery instruments.

A surgery? That was a new one. And it wasn't one that I liked.

Making a quick decision, I whirled to the Eraser at my right and delivered an uppercut right to his nose. He snarled in pain, and I turned to his partner and kicked him in the chest before running out of the room.

I sprinted down the hall, flying past startled painters and shouting scientists. They wanted to operate on me? Hah, I wasn't going to let them do that so easily.

Turning down an intersecting hallway, I sped toward the room where Ella was tied up. I wasn't going to leave without her, after all. It would be selfish of me to escape and leave her here at the mercy of the people who had tortured me for over half my life and who had not a decent bone in their body.

Finding the door, I practically ripped it off its hinges as I ran inside. But, as soon as I'd stepped over the threshold, I froze.

The chair where Ella was always tied up was empty, as was the rest of the room. Even my cage was gone.

Ella wasn't here.

I felt someone grab me from behind, and I instinctively went into fighting mode. I grabbed the arm around my neck and ripped it away, snapping it as I did so. It was only a scientist, and the woman gasped in pain. I kneed her in the stomach and let her drop to the ground, an expression of shock on her face. Stepping over her, I went out into the hallway.

It was total chaos. People were shouting, stumbling around, looking like a colony of ants that had a preying mantis set upon them. They were panicking, which was good. It would buy me some time.

"Stop right there." I turned to see a group of three Erasers in human form walking toward me, holding Taser guns. Great. I snarled at them, and instantly I felt a searing pain in my chest. I looked down and saw two little prongs sticking out of me.

Electricity ran through my body as I fell to my knees, gasping with the pain of it all and yanking the prongs out of me. But the electric shocks didn't stop. I was still twitching pathetically from the force of the Taser, and my body wouldn't respond as the Erasers dragged me to my feet and shoved me toward the lab again.

I was just beginning to get over the effects of the Taser as they forced me onto the metal table, strapping my wrists down with cold metal cuffs. A bright light filled my vision, and I blinked as I looked away.

Beside me, a whitecoat that I hadn't seen before was filling a syringe with a greenish-blue liquid. I didn't know what the heck it was, but at the moment I didn't really care. I strained against the cuffs but nothing happened. I was basically screwed.

"Why?" I asked. The whitecoat froze in shock, like he was surprised that I could speak. I glared at him, making sure that I would at least scare him a little before he did whatever he planned to do to me. "Do you think you're God? Is that why you're doing all this crap?"

The whitecoat gawked at me, but then one of the senior scientists came in, putting on those cheap plastic gloves and letting them slap against his wrists in a menacing way.

"Don't answer it," the older scientist said, picking up a scalpel from the row of surgery tools. "It doesn't need to know anything. It's nothing more than an animal."

"I'll give you 'animal'," I growled, raising up my foot and kicking out at him. I missed, but when I did it a second time my foot connected with his torso, sending him backwards. But before I had a chance to send another kick his way, a respirator mask was slapped over my face. My eyes rolled up into my head as the anesthesia took effect, and within milliseconds I was out cold.

_**Max's POV**_

"Which do you like better, the maroon or the purple?" Nudge asked, holding up the two dresses. I was about to say that I didn't like either, but she was touchy about these kinds of things.

"The purple," I said. Why are we talking about dresses, you might ask? Well, when you're going to try to sneak into a research complex with a bunch of rich snobs, you have to look the part. So, with my wonderful credit card for which I never get charged, the Flock and I went to a dress shop that also happened to have a section for men. Gazzy and Iggy were looking at suits while Angel, Nudge, and I were looking at dresses. I'd already picked out a blue dress and Angel had a little pink one slung over her shoulder. Nudge was taking the longest – even though we were only using these clothes to get into the research center, she was still concerned about looking fashionable.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive, Nudge. It compliments you." I wasn't sure if that was true, but I just wanted to get out of this store.

"Mmmm… I guess you're right." She draped it over her shoulder and stroked the silk lovingly. "It really is a nice dress, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Let's go get Iggy and Gazzy; they should be done by now."

They were done all right. Actually, they'd been done so long they were devising a way to make a bomb out of all the suits and dresses in the shop. Don't ask me how, 'cause I have no idea.

Checking out our dress clothes and paying for it with my credit card, the Flock and I headed back to the cheap hotel we'd managed to rent a room in. Sure, we'd only rented it out for two days and would only be staying in it for one more night, but it still didn't appeal to me much. It wasn't exactly my idea of a five-star room, but it would do for one more night. Tomorrow was the grand opening of the Harold Black Research Center, and we just needed a place for tonight.

Of course, last night I hadn't been able to sleep at all. We were so close to Fang and Ella. We even knew the address of the building where they were being kept. Tomorrow night, if all went well, we'd have our missing family members back and getting out of Boston. So far, it was going smoothly, and I prayed that it would stay that way.

_**Fang's POV**_

_I was in a room empty except for a single door, tied to a chair, my arms useless at my sides as I looked at the monster before me. There were no words to describe it, and I thrashed against my bindings. The monster laughed at me, laughed at my helplessness."Who are you?" I yelled at him, trying to break free. "What are you, and where am I?"_

_He laughed again. "So many questions."_

_"Who the heck are you?"_

"_Fang, Fang," it cooed in a mocking voice. "You should know who I am. You and I are one and the same."_

_I watched in horror as the monster began to change – into me. He had my overlong black hair, my dark clothes; everything about him was the same as me… except for his eyes. The irises were blood red, menacing and reflecting the monster in him._

"_You see, you've become quiet obsolete," he said, brushing bangs out of his eyes. "You're too loyal to your family. I'm the new you, loyal to a new cause and the right people."_

"_What are you saying?" I asked through clenched teeth._

"_That my creators have a new goal, and I will help them achieve it."_

"_And what's that?"_

"_Kill Maximum Ride," he said simply. "And I'm going to need a body to it. So I'm going to use yours."_

"_What are you going to do, steal it? Fat chance of that, pal."_

_He cocked his head. "You don't know anything, do you? This room is basically your mind, and you're trapped here like a suppressed alter ego. I, on the other hand, am free to control your body until you figure out a way to get out. Which there is little chance of, let me tell you now."_

"_You think you can just steal my body and expect nothing to happen? That I won't fight back?" I shouted at him, straining harder than before at my bindings._

_He pretended to think for a second. "Yeah," he said, walking toward the door. "As a matter of fact, I do."_

_And then he was gone through the only door, leaving me in this empty room tied to a chair. Leaving me trapped in my own mind._

_I had to get out. I had to save Max. I had to stop that monster from taking complete control of my body._

_But how?_

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**Now you know what the "drastic" thing is. Though it doesn't end here. It'll all be explained in later chapters *wink***

**Oh, and don't forget to review! You know why, you know how to, so click on the green button *points at it* and write a little message. That's all it takes to make me feel loved (if it's not a flame), so please REVIEW!!! If you have any nasty thoughts about my story that are not constructive criticisms, please keep them to yourself.**


	17. Rich Guys Smell Like Rotten Eggs

**I'm so sad! Our French teacher had to be permanently transfered to the high school, and today we got our new teacher that's going to be with us for the rest of the year. Her name is Mrs. Roe, and I can't stand her. The class came up with a nickname for her - Death Roe. Considering how evil she is, it suits her. I miss Mr. R already (Why? Why did he have to leave? *has emotional breakdown* he was the only teacher I actually _enjoyed_ learning from)**

**Changing subject, I can't believe how many good reviews I've gotten! You guys rock! I love you! (in a sibling way, just so I don't freak anyone out)**

**This chapter turned out a lot longer than I'd expected it to. I'm not that unsatisfied with it, but it's only a filler for the next couple of chapters. Action is coming up, peeps! Hang with me! And in the meantime, enjoy the chapter while I go sulk about the new French teacher.**

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"Do you really think this looks good on me?" Nudge asked, striking a pose in front of the mirror and looking at herself. "Maybe I should've bought the maroon one after all. It would've gone better with my skin and hair."

"Nudge, chill," I said, smoothing out the wrinkles in my light blue dress. "You look fine. We're probably only going to be in these for maybe an hour anyway."

"Still," she sniffed, grabbing her jacket from the bed and sliding it on. It kind of stunk that only Nudge, Angel, and I had to wear jackets to hide our wings. Iggy and Gazzy could just hide theirs under their suits, as well as the other clothes.

See, if we're going to bust Fang and Ella out of Itex or Scientia or whatever the heck it's called these days, we can't be in dress clothes. Since there's a great possibility that we're going to be fighting, we're all wearing extra clothes under our dressy ones to make sure that we're not hindered while we fight. Nudge, Angel, and I are wearing tanks tops and shorts under our dresses, and Iggy and the Gasman are wearing T-shirts and jeans. They got their pants extra large so that they could fit their jeans under, not to mention the bombs I'd told them to make as well as the others they'd probably had from the start.

How they were going to get them past the metal detectors I had no clue about, but I knew without a doubt that Iggy would somehow manage to. He was, after all, a genius in the art of making bombs. He would've thought of this kind of thing – hopefully – and been able to come up with a way to get around it. A loophole, for instance; he was great at finding those.

"Angel, are you done in there yet?" I called to the shut bathroom door as I slipped on my own jacket. The guys were already done dressing and in the lobby of the hotel, checking out for us. Or at least that's what they told me they were doing.

"Just a second," she called back, and I heard the sink turn on. She was probably brushing her teeth or something.

About thirty seconds later, Angel came out of the bathroom, twirling in her new pink dress. She beamed at me, obviously pleased with how she looked. I felt a little bad that she had to ditch the dress so soon, but I think she would rather have her missing family members back then keep a dress she's had for only a day and has only worn once. But that's just my reasoning, and my reasoning has also landed us in all kinds of places. Like Antarctica, for example.

"C'mon, guys," I said after Angel had put on her own jacket and adjusted it a little to make sure her wings didn't show. "Let's go find the guys and get over to the Harold Black Research whatever."

"Right," Nudge said, opening the door and letting us out in front of her. She closed it for the final time since we didn't have the key anymore and we headed out to the lobby, where Iggy and the Gasman were waiting for us.

"You guys finally ready?" Iggy asked, his unseeing eyes almost looking right at us. Sure, they were more or less focused about fifteen centimeters to the right of my shoulder, but that's pretty darn close for someone who's blind and can't see a dang thing.

"Ready as we'll ever be," I said, opening the lobby door. The receptionist was watching us curiously, and I threw a glare her way that made her look down to her papers. I hated snoopers, and I couldn't stand it when people I didn't know just looked at me like they were looking at something on TV. It was soooo annoying.

We stepped out into the streets of Boston, immediately heading toward the center of the city and following the directions we'd managed to get off the Internet at the local library. Within half an hour, we were standing in line in front of a huge modern-looking complex. It was practically obvious, even from the outside, that this was a branch of Itex; it just had that feel about it. Except for the photographers and gazillions of people, that is. This place clearly wasn't trying to keep itself secret, and I made a mental note of that for future references.

"Jeez, this place is huge," Nudge whispered to me as we walked up the steps to the lobby of the building, which looked like it was crammed with people. "How are we going to find Fang and Ella in here?"

"I don't know," I whispered back. "But we're going to, there's no doubt about that."

I felt Angel slide her hand in mine, and I gently squeezed it to reassure her. I caught Gazzy's eye and smiled at him. Iggy gently brushed his fingers against my jacket. Nudge determinedly stood beside me, taking in every detail of the place with her eyes. Together, shoulder-to-shoulder, the Flock and I entered the new Itex complex, swallowed up in the crowd as we entered the lair of our enemies.

-----

_Hmph_, I thought, looking around at the room being used to house most of the party. _If this is the kind of parties rich people go to all the time, I'm glad I don't have much money._

_I agree_, Angel thought to me, her big blue eyes wide as she looked around the gigantic room. _It's way too crowded. And most of these people smell like rotten eggs and sour milk._

I put my hand over my mouth to stifle a laugh. _I think that's their perfume and cologne, Angel. People pay a lot of money to smell that way._

_Well, I think it's disgusting. If I'm ever rich, I'm not going to smell like that._

_Let's hope so._ I looked behind me, where rich snobs were filing into the building like bees in a hive. They were all dressed uber-fancily, the men in tuxedoes and the women in velvet and cashmere dresses. Compared to them, we were dressed like lower-class citizens; compared to us usually, we were dressed like millionaires. Weird, huh?

Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy were over by the buffet table, stuffing their faces with food. Overall, though, I guess it wasn't such a bad idea. They'd need the calories to make themselves strong, and obviously they'd need strength to infiltrate Itex's new compound.

_So, when are we going to look for Fang and Ella?_ Angel asked me.

_When no one will notice us slipping away,_ I answered. _They'll be gathering people up for a tour sometime soon, and I think that'll be a good time to just leave the crowd, when everyone's going to be moving. We'll be less obvious that way._

Angel was silent for a minute, like she was thinking it through, then she said, _That's a good plan._

_Thanks._

_Do you want me to tell everybody when it's time to leave?_

_That'd be nice of you._

We spent the next half an hour or so just standing around making small talk with each other. I was getting ancy; there were so many people by now that I had both men and women closing in on me at practically all angles. It was like a sea of people, and the air was getting hot from the body heat.

There was a small tapping on a microphone, and everyone looked up. A man was standing behind a small podium, his graying brown hair slicked back away from his face and his beady black eyes scanning the crowd.

"Hello," he said in a booming voice that seemed to echo in the room. "Welcome to the grand opening of the Harold Black Research Center. As you know, Scientia has been helping people all over the world with its biotechnology, and with this center we hope to prove that science really can make a difference…"

The guy droned on and on, talking about how wonderful Scientia, a.k.a. Itex, was. Even with his booming voice, I was ready to fall asleep right where I stood. I think I actually began to sway a little, because Angel placed a hand on my arm and shook me. What can I say? I'm not a good communicator, and I'm an even worse listener. I would never make it in life as a therapist.

When he announced that the tour was starting, however, I perked right up and was alert at once. I'd decided that the best way to get out of the crowd was to just sneak out with the tour and then make a different turn somewhere and ditch our dress clothes. Then we'd split into two groups; Nudge and I would go one way, Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel another. If we split up, we stood a better chance at finding Ella and Fang, even if it cut our fighting force. Still, I thought that we could succeed like this, and right now that was all that mattered.

We filed into a clean white hallway with the rest of the crowd. As we passed two guards, I noticed that they looked like models, and when an elderly woman asked something from one he answered her in a musical voice. Erasers. I guess they hadn't caught our scent because it was mixing with the scent of all the humans here. I also doubted that they'd expected us to come right into the lion's den.

_Angel, tell Gazzy and Nudge to turn left at this next hallway, and tell Iggy to make sure he's touching one of them so that he knows where to go._ I looked over the head of the woman in front of me to where the hallway turned off into another one. Everyone was passing it up, but when we got to it I gently took Angel's hand and led her down it. There was a door at the end, and as I tried to open it I took a casual look over my shoulder. No one seemed to be watching, and the rest of the Flock was right behind me.

"Crap, I can't get it," I muttered, trying the lock again.

"Let me try," Nudge said, coming up beside me. I pulled my hands away, and as soon as she touched the handle the door swung open. Sometimes it was good to have a metal-controller and technopath in the Flock; we never had a problem with computers, locks, or anything like them that could get in our way on a mission. Of course, we hadn't been on a mission for over a year, but we had enough experience to know that locks were usually a big problem. With Nudge's power, though, they were a piece of cake.

As soon as we were through the door and had shut it behind us, we began to strip off our dress clothes. I was so glad to pull off that dress; the shorts and tank top underneath were so much more comfortable and easy to move in. Nudge seemed sulky when she laid her dress beside the door and brushed some fuzz off of her top; the guys seemed as glad to get out of the dress clothes as I was, and Angel seemed indifferent. Either way, I was glad to be out of that stupid dress and back into fighting clothes.

"Iggy, Angel, Gasman, you guys take the left hall. Nudge and I will go to the right and up to the second floor. You guys can search the lower level. Any questions?"

They all shook their head. Angel had obviously filled them in on the plan as I'd thought it up.

"Okay then. Good luck, don't get caught, and make it fast. Let's rock and roll."

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**I'm surprised I still ask for reviews. But since this method seems to be working pretty well, I'm going to ask again. REVIEW! PLEASE! I love it when my inbox is overflowing, it makes me feel good! SO REVIEW! (You know you want to)**


	18. Riot

**Dun Dun Dun, the long-awaited chapter 18 is finally here! Yay! I'm REALLY sorry this is so short, hope you can forgive me, I just didn't know where to leave off and the chapter just kept getting longer and longer until I got an unsatisfactory ending, so I just backtracked and found one that I was okay with. Again, sorry it's so short, I really am, and I'm going to start working on chapter 19 as soon as I get this posted.**

**Oh, and if you've never heard the song "Riot" by Three Days Grace, look it up on Youtube. Best song ever, and yes, I named this chapter after it. The song kind of reminds me of Maximum Ride, and I think it kind of influenced this chapter a little bit. Anyway, look it up, great song, you won't regret it, it'll probably end up on your favorites. But be warned, it's pretty hard rock on the verge of metal. Just so you can't say I didn't warn you.**

**Before I get carried away, let's get on with the story!**

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Even just walking down the hallway gave me the creeps. Okay, so we weren't exactly walking – more like speed walking. We weren't running 'cause it would make too much noise, but we were going as fast as we could quietly. That still wasn't fast enough for me, though, and I was fidgety as we checked the rooms we passed. So far, we had no idea where they could be; we flung open door after door, but it was like each one of them just had a library or an office behind it. There's nothing more aggravating than finding rooms like that when you're looking for people you love.

After finding about the fifth office, I decided to enter. I looked down at the desk dominating the left side of the room, and on it I saw a picture of a man's family. A little boy was sitting on the man's lap, and he was holding hands with a woman. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and looked away. "What a joke," I murmured as I explored the rest of the office. Not finding any useful information, I was about to leave when I felt myself begin to shake. Not in fear, but in rage. Uncontrollable rage. Seeing that man happy while Fang was probably stuck in a cage somewhere had done something to me; it had made me snap.

I turned and slammed my fist into the desk. The wood cracked, and when I kicked it, it caved in on itself. I grabbed some papers from a bookshelf and ripped them in half, letting them fall all over the floor as I grabbed some more.

"Max, do you really think we should do this?" Nudge asked timidly, standing at the door. I looked over my shoulder at her as I dumped the contents of a folder all over the man's desk (at least I assumed it was the man in the picture that worked here).

"Why not?" I asked. "They've caused us enough grief. It's time for some payback."

"But, what if these people didn't know?"

"Oh well. They're working for the worst company on earth, and it's time for Itex to know that we're not going to tolerate them anymore." I knocked over a picture, and the frame broke as it hit the ground.

"Max, you're totally destroying this guy's office. Let's just go find Fang and Ella and get out."

I saw the sense in it, and as I calmed down a little I began to head for the door. Satisfied that I was going to follow her, Nudge left the door and went out into the hallway again. But on my way out, I knocked over the family picture and watched with cold satisfaction as it hit the floor and the glass broke.

_**Maximum.**_ The Voice; I should've expected it to show up. _**Max, this isn't you.**_

_No, really, I could've never guessed. Maybe seeing a guy enjoying life while we're on the run gets to me._

**_Max, you need to control yourself. You're never going to be able to save Fang and Ella if you waste valuable time destroying offices like this._**

_Much as I hate to admit it, Voice, you might be right. Still, we need to show Itex that we're not just going to lie down and submit to them._

**_I understand that. But you need to get a hold of yourself, before it's too late._**

_What?_

But, like it usually does, the Voice didn't answer me. It always stops talking when I ask a question. Convenient, right?

But it and Nudge were right. I had to get a hold of myself. I took a deep breath, trying to calm myself down. This wasn't a raid, I reminded myself; it was a rescue mission. And the Voice was right; if I spent time destroying offices, Nudge and I were more likely to be discovered, and if we were caught Angel, Gazzy, and Iggy would have to rescue everybody. I honestly didn't like to admit it, but there was no way a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old, and a blind fifteen-year-old could rescue four people from a facility they've never even been in.

We visited a couple more offices, and luckily I was able to keep myself from snapping again when I saw the happy family pictures. I reminded myself of what Nudge said; maybe they really didn't know about what was going on here, what their employers were doing to people and to the world.

After double-checking every room on the first floor, Nudge and I headed up to the second floor. It was about half an hour into the break-in, and I was getting jittery again. What if someone found us? What if they discovered us when they brought the tour through? Nudge tried to reassure me that they probably wouldn't show the tours their labs; unfortunately, her words didn't work the miracle she'd been hoping for on me.

On the second floor, we found more offices and a couple of labs. This time, Nudge was actually the one trashing stuff; she dumped most of the chemicals in storage units down the sinks and used her technopath powers to screw up the computers. We worked our magic fast; we still needed to leave enough time to do what we came here for, but leaving this place in ruins was another one of our goals. If this was what it was like to start a riot, then I think I wanted to start one more often. It really let you vent your anger.

That was when we came to the lab. It was like all of the others, except for one big exception: against the wall opposite of the door, next to a couple of computers and machines that did who-knew-what, was a big dog crate. And he was inside.

"Fang!" I gasped, running to the crate and kneeling down beside it. There was a big old lock on the door, and I yanked at it with all my might. When it didn't budge, I looked over to Nudge. "Find the key! Or pliers, or just _something_!"

"Right!" She began to turn over papers and stuff on the tables, looking for something we could use.

"Fang? Are you okay?" I asked softly, peering in through the bars. He was curled up in a ball, his black wings lying limply. As I watched, he stirred a little, but he didn't say anything. "Fang? Say something, please." I could feel hot tears in my eyes; seeing him like this, hurt, made me want to cry.

"Max?" His voice was soft, controlled, but for some reason it just didn't sound right. Maybe his throat was scratchy or something. I didn't care, though; he was responsive, he was going to be all right.

"Found it!" Nudge said triumphantly, handing me a set of keys.

"We're getting you out, Fang," I said as I jammed them one by one in the lock until I found the right one, which I turned harshly. I heard the click as it unlocked, and I wrenched it open.

"You shouldn't have come," he said quietly, sitting up and looking at me. I froze in shock; his eyes weren't black, like they usually were.

They were a bright, bloody red color.

An evil smile spread across his face. "You shouldn't have come," he said, "because now I'm going to have to kill you."

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**Again, I'm sorry it's so short. I originally had a chapter about seven hundred extra words long, but the ending was unsatisfactory and I couldn't find a good place to leave off except for here. Hope you can forgive me, and don't worry, chapter 19 should be up pretty fast. And, as always, review!**


	19. What Was Your First Clue?

**Wow, a double post tonight! This the second chapter I've written today since I woke up this morning. I'm really sucking up to you guys! And I am very excited and proud to announce that I've offically hit the 200 review mark. You guys rock! Thanks so much! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!**

**To oceanlover14: Of course I had to do that! I wouldn't be ChetCheerio if I hadn't!**

**To CullenWithWings: Hope this is fast enough for you, I wrote it all since I posted the last chapter this afternoon! Depending on how fast I write and if I'm able to get it done before archery, there might be another chapter up tomorrow. But I can't promise anything as of now.**

**To Evilhunterperson: That's so cool. I've always wanted to go to Boston. *stares off dreamily***

**Okay, this chapter didn't turn out too bad. FIGHT SCENCE! Booyah! And please forgive me for my attempts at sarcasm toward the end. Don't flame me! I beg of you!**

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As soon as he spoke the words, my body froze in shock, and I think my heart went into cardiac arrest. But before I could say anything or even think a coherent thought, Fang rushed at me, slamming my in the center of my chest with his shoulder and sending me flying backwards into a table, which broke under my weight. Nudge gasped in shock, and as I raised my head I saw him rush at her, pulling back a fist to punch her. He looked cold, detached, like a killing machine.

"Stop it!" I screamed at him, leaping up and running at him, luckily intercepting him before he could get to Nudge. I tackled him, shoving him into a bookcase. He hissed as his back slammed against the wood, and he threw himself at me again, fury and a desire to kill in his blood red eyes, the eyes that weren't his. "Nudge, get out of here!" I yelled at her as I dodged a punch, Fang's fist flying past my face.

"No," Nudge whispered. But she was standing still in shock, watching as I dodged another punch and retaliated with a kick to the shin. I couldn't believe that I was fighting for my life with my own _boyfriend_, with my soul mate. It felt so, so wrong; no, it _was_ wrong. Something wasn't right about Fang, but I didn't know what it was. All I knew now that he really was going to kill me if he got the chance, and I had to fight back.

"Nudge, I'm telling you to get out of here as a friend and as a leader," I ground out, sweeping my legs under Fang to try to make him lose his balance, though he easily got out of the way before I could trip him. "Don't make me lose my trust in you just because you feel like being stubborn."

"But Max, I can't just leave-"

"Yes you can! Now get back to the others and see if they've found Ella."

"I can't just leave you here."

"Nudge, I swear I'll throw you out myself if you don't move now," I said as I tried to kick Fang's exposed side. He ended up moving at the last second and sent me crashing into another table. Before I could regain my balance and get into a defensive position, he grabbed my hair and slammed my head into the table. Hot blood oozed from my forehead, running down the side of my face. The only thing that gave me some sense of ease was that when I looked up, I saw that Nudge was gone. At least she wouldn't be hurt.

Pushing myself off the table, I quickly turned and punched Fang in the gut. He lost his balance a little, and in a quick movement I launched myself into a roundhouse kick that connected with his shoulder. He bent to the side, and I punched him in the face. He snarled angrily, and I saw his nose begin to bleed; it wasn't broken, but I'd still damaged something and caused some pain. That's what he got for trying to hurt Nudge.

That's when I noticed something: Fang wasn't fighting like he usually did. Spending five years sparring and wrestling with him had taught me his style and some of his strongest moves, but so far I hadn't seen him use any of them. It was like he'd ditched his old style since I'd last seen him and took up a whole new one. He didn't use his speed and agility like he usually did; he seemed to rely mainly on brute strength, something unusual for him.

All these little details came to me at once. He fought wrong, his eyes were a different color… those and many other little things, like the way he carried himself, made me think. That's when it came to me.

"You're not Fang," I said, more to myself then to him. It was impossible, yet somehow I knew it was true.

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "What was your first clue?" he asked, then he lunged at me with his fist already in mid-punch.

_**Nudge's POV**_

I ran down the hall, my shoes pounding against the tiles loudly as I headed for the staircase. Max had told me to find the rest of the Flock and to stay with them, but even as I reached the staircase and began to speed down it, I wanted to go back and help in any way possible. But I would just be in the way. I wasn't a fighter, and if Fang really had gone bad I stood no chance against him. He was probably the strongest of all of us, after Max, of course.

Halfway down the second flight of stairs, I bumped into someone. I squeaked in fright, but when I registered the faces of the four people in front of me I immediately calmed down.

"Guys, you almost gave me a heart attack!" I said. "I thought I'd been discovered!"

"Well, sorry," Gazzy said, crossing his arms. "We found Ella…" He pointed to her. She was standing beside Iggy, pale and looking unhealthy. I smiled at her, showing her I was glad to see her, and she smiled back. "… and left Itex some presents. We figured we might as well come and see how you and Max were doing. Speaking of Max, where is she?"

"Um, she's kind of busy."

"With what?" Iggy asked.

I heard a muffled crash from the floor above. If that was her and Fang fighting, someone must've seriously gotten hurt. "With that," I muttered.

"Is she fighting?"

I nodded, but then remembered that Iggy couldn't see. "I'm nodding, Ig."

"With who?" Gazzy asked.

"F-"

_No_, Angel thought to me. I stopped mid-word, surprised.

_What's 'no'?_

_She's not fighting Fang._

I looked at her and cocked an eyebrow. _Ah, yes, she is. I saw it._

_Yeah, well, no offense or anything, but I can read minds. That isn't Fang's mind. It has a different feel to it._

Then her eyes widened, and her mouth literally dropped open. She looked completely shocked.

"Angel, what's wrong?" the Gasman asked, looking worriedly at his sister.

"I can hear him," she said.

"Huh? Who?"

_Is it Fang?_ I asked with my mind. I didn't say it out loud because the others didn't need to know that it was a possibility that their father-brother figure might've gone to the dark side.

_Yeah,_ she said. _I can't talk to him for some reason, but I can clearly hear him. And he sounds pretty ticked_.

_**Fang's POV**_

_I tried again to wriggle out of the ropes tying me to the chair, and again I failed. Let me tell you, spending probably close to two days or so trapped in your mind is the most dang boring thing. It's even worse then listening to Nudge go on and on about nail polish and beauty products, and that's really saying something. When I got out of here, I was going to give Other-me a piece of my mind. Well, not literally, but you get what I mean._

_I heard the door open, and speak of the devil, Other-me was standing there, looking smug. Jerk._

"_So, Other-me, since we're obviously going to be sharing bodies for a while, why don't you tell me your name?" I asked, trying to work the main knot holding all the ropes together. Gradually, it was getting looser and looser; eventually Other-me was going to notice and re-secure it, but by stalling I might buy enough time to work it out and free myself._

_Calling him Other-me seemed to annoy him, so that's one reason I did it. His lips curled up when I said it, and I raised an eyebrow expectantly._

"_I don't really have a name," he said._

"_Well, you don't like me calling you Other-me, so you'd better come up with a name. I know, how about Fluffy? Or Mr. Sparkly Bumpkins? That suits you."_

"_Watch it," Other-me snarled._

"_Or what? You'll take over my body? Sorry pal, but you've pretty much done everything you can without killing me. And technically, you can't even do that, because if I die then you'll die too, since we share a body."_

_Other-me was silent for a while, and then he smirked. "Fine, you want a name? Call me Seth."_

"_I think I heard that name before. Wasn't it voted the worst name of the year or something?"_

_Other-me, Seth, tightened his mouth. Looks like he was picking up my habits after spending a while in my body._

"_Look, I wanted to show you something, but if you'd rather just stay locked up here I understand." He turned to the door again and looked over his shoulder at me. "You wouldn't actually get out of the room, you'd just be able to see through your own eyes again."_

"_What, just a little vision of the outside world? That's awfully generous of you."_

"_Shut up and watch," Seth snapped._

_My vision blacked out again, and suddenly I was looking out of my own eyes again. I tried to wiggle my fingers, but they didn't respond. Seth obviously wasn't taking any chances with me regaining control._

_It was first time I'd seen the world outside of my own mind in at least a day. And, honestly, at the moment I wished that the world hadn't existed._

_Because the first thing I saw of it was my fist slamming into Max's jaw._

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**Yay! Chapter 19 done, chapter 20 in the planning stages. I'll post as soon as I can, and in the meantime can I make a request? REVIEW!**

**Oh, and anyone who can guess where I got the inspiration for the name "Seth" gets another virtual cookie! Hint: know your mythology**


	20. Last Words

**Okay, I feel really guilty about the last chapter with the whole "guess the inspiration behind Seth" thing. I probably didn't give you enough of a hint. I noticed that many of you (pretty much all but two) said that I got Seth from Twilight. In all honesty, I wasn't even thinking of him when I came up with the name. And I probably should've told you guys this, but the inspiration behind Seth's name also has his name spelt "Set".**

**The vitrual cookie for guessing the inspiration behind Seth's name goes to KailaNicole (I couldn't put the period in there because otherwise it wouldn't show the name at all)**

**I actually derived the name for Seth from the Egyptian god of darkness, chaos, deserts and storms. I'm a total history freak and I'm completely into mythology (ask any of my friends). Again, sorry that I didn't give you enough of a hint.**

**Changing subject, I got to post today! Yay! This chapter took me FOREVER to write, and I'm only semi-satisfied with it. I think I rushed it a little, but please don't flame me! I beg of you! And the next chapter should be better, I promise.**

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One bad thing that comes out of sparing with the same person for years: you get pretty evenly matched after a while. Fang and I were probably identical in strength, so it was hard for either of us to get the upper hand. If it had been, say, Iggy that I was fighting, one of us would've won by now. I was used to fighting quickly, but this was taking a while; one minute, it looked like he was going to win, then the fight shifted in my favor. Sure, we'd exchanged blows and all, but since we were both inhumanly tough it took a lot more than a few punches to take us out of a fight.

I felt Fang's fist slam into my jaw, and I bit my lip against the pain. Quickly darting out of the way when I recovered my composure, I grabbed the back of a nearby chair and whirled it at him. He dodged it with a hiss and retaliated with a powerful kick that I only just dodged. I realized, with a small amount of fright, that I was beginning to get tired; I couldn't go on fighting forever, no matter how hard I tried to.

As I felt Fang's fist go flying past my face, I almost wanted to shed a tear. At the same time I was fighting a stranger that wanted to see me dead, I was fighting with one of the only people on Earth that I trusted, probably to the death if he didn't stop. This was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. It was worse than the years at the School, worse than learning that Itex was back, worse than learning that Jeb had betrayed us. Because through everything I'd always had Fang. Now I didn't have him, and I felt alone. Even though I knew the Flock would always be with me if I made it out of this, I would never have him back. My Fang was gone. I didn't know where, I only knew that he wasn't here.

Too late, I realized that I'd made a potentially fatal mistake. I'd let my mind wander away from the fight, and too late I saw the fist that buried itself in my stomach. The pain was agonizing; it was a full force punch, and it sent me literally flying through the air. I landed painfully against the wall, my head hitting the hard surface with a crack that made me see stars.

"I really don't understand what he sees in you," Fang, or whoever he was these days, said, coming up to me and looking down at me menacingly as I tried to clear my head of the stars. "I mean, you're pretty and all, but you're incredibly weak."

I glared up at him. "Kind of hypocritical of you to say that, isn't it?" I asked, pointing out his bleeding nose and the bruises pretty much covering his body. The corner of his mouth twitched irritably; he obviously didn't like to have the fact that he wasn't invincible pointed out.

"I can see why Itex wants you dead," he sneered. "You're disrespectful, and you're disposable. Just like he was."

"Big words for someone who probably doesn't even know what he's talking about. You might not know what kind of people they are, but I do. And if you're siding with Itex, then you're going to have to pay just like the rest of them."

His lips curled back, and in a quick movement his hand was at my throat. I could feel every callus on his palm, every imperfection of his skin. Slowly, I began to rise until I was standing with my back to the wall, his hand still gripping my throat.

"Any last words?" he whispered, tightening his grip. It didn't hurt, not yet, but I knew that if he kept squeezing eventually he would squeeze the life right out of me. And strangely, I didn't care.

"Yeah, I have a few," I said. "But not for you. I want Fang, the real Fang, wherever he is, to know that I love him, that I'm sorry I couldn't come in time to save him." I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing, trying to keep the emotion beginning to well up inside me from overflowing. At least I was getting all of this off my chest before I died. "I want him to know that I've always loved him, and that he shouldn't grieve when I'm gone."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact. My Flock is going to kick your butt from here to Taipei when they find out what you've done."

He cocked his head almost like a dog. "Well, if they never find out, then I'll never get my butt kicked, now will I?"

"And how are you going to fool them, huh? Act like it was an accident? Or pretend that you're Fang, and that you were trying to save me or something? We have a freaking mind reader, idiot; she'll be able to tell who you are from a mile away. She'll know that you aren't who you pretend to be, and she's detected an imposter before."

"Even if she does find out, it doesn't matter. She won't be able to kill me."

"Maybe not in a fist fight, but she can make you fall out of the sky without breaking a sweat."

"I don't think you get what I mean," he said, and his grip on my neck tightened a little more. "They wouldn't be able to kill me because of who I am."

"You're an imposter, like Max II. They'll be able to kill you without a second thought."

He actually laughed at that. "No, stupid. I might not be Fang in the mind, but I am in the flesh. If you need proof, here it is."

Using the hand that wasn't holding me by the throat, he pulled up his shirt in the front. There, still slightly pink against his olive skin, were the three parallel scars from the fight with Ari all those months ago. Almost undeniable proof that it was Fang… but, at the same time, it wasn't. It was so confusing, so strange, and none of it made any sense. Was this Fang, my oldest friend and my shoulder to cry on, or was it some stranger bent on killing my family?

Then his fingers tightened around my throat, making it clear to me that my death was coming soon. At least it was a somewhat easy way to go, not painful like dying from a bullet wound or bleeding to death. It was nice to know that at least something was going to be easy in my life. I stared into those blood-red eyes, and suddenly I wasn't afraid anymore. All I could feel was regret.

"I'm sorry, Fang, wherever you are," I whispered. "I love you."

I felt a little more at peace knowing that my last words had been to the only person I'd ever loved.

_**Fang's POV**_

_I watched helplessly as Seth held her against the wall by her throat, taunting her. I'd never felt so helpless, not even in the cages at the School. Watching my own body hurt her was the most painful thing, more painful than ten years of experiments. No, more painful than ten times ten years of experiments._

_"I'm sorry, Fang, wherever you are," I heard her whisper. "I love you."_

_I wanted to tell her how sorry I was, how much I wished this had never happened, how much I loved her. I wanted to beg for forgiveness, but Seth was in control of my body and I couldn't do so much as twitch a muscle. It was torture, and Seth twisted my face into a vicious grin that made me sick because it meant he was truly happy that she was going to die._

_I had to save her. I had to figure out how to get out right now, how to take back control and keep him from using me to kill her. Though I was still seeing through my own eyes, I could feel the bindings keeping me tied to the chair. I strained with renewed vigor; this time I was working for something, for someone. I had to break out or Max would die, and that's what gave me the strength. As I worked against the ropes binding me, I felt something snap, and the ropes grew limp around me. The thought of Max dying because of my weakness had done the trick, and when I blinked I was no longer looking through my eyes again; I was back in the plain room that had been my prison, the ropes laying around me, broken._

_I was free, and I would have to work fast to save Max._

_The door through which I'd seen Seth disappear was unlocked, thank God, and I almost ripped it off its hinges opening it. Seth was standing in the hallway, and when he heard the door he whirled on me, an expression of shock and confusion on his face._

"_How…?" But he didn't get the chance to finish because I punched him right in the face, my knuckles going right into the bridge of his nose. I heard it break under the blow, but considering the fact that we were just in the mind there was probably no real physical damage done, unfortunately for me. It would've been convenient to just be able to kill him now and get all this drama over with. Of course, life could never be that simple, now could it?_

_For a second I wondered what I had to do to get back my body. Then I realized that it was another second closer to Max's death, and I did the first instinctual thing that came to my mind. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and willed myself back into my body._

_When I reopened my eyes, I was seeing out of my own eyes again. I found Max watching me, anticipating what I was going to do, and I locked eyes with her. And when I willed my hand to let go of Max's throat, it did. _

_Finally, I was back in control._

**_Max's POV_**

I was sure that my death would be quick. Strangely, it wasn't.

Actually, Fang seemed to stiffen and his hold on me loosened a little. I could breathe easier, not by much but still at least a little easier. I watched his face, and I was stunned to see that the blood-red eyes were getting darker, turning from the bright red color to their normal black. The color transition took only a few milliseconds – you could've missed it in the blink of an eye – and then I was staring into the deep charcoal eyes of the normal Fang, my Fang.

And then his hand pulled away from my throat, instead moving to my shoulder as if to brace or steady me.

I sucked in a deep breath and twitched under his touch, not knowing if the change in eye color was significant. And then he spoke.

"Max," he said, making it sound like he was going to start an apology or something. But I didn't give him the time.

I did the first thing that came to my mind, which happened to be kneeing him right in the groin.

* * *

**Poor Fang, don't you agree? Max doesn't know he's back in control, and she ends up kneeing him in his vulnerable spot. That's one nice thing about being a girl - you don't have the same kind of vulnerability there! (hehe, I used a big word)**

**Anyways, review as always! It's midnight, I'm very tired, and I would like to know that I'm doing an alright job with this. The next chapter should get posted fairly quickly because I don't have school for 5 days in a row because of Easter break! Woot! *happy dances all around bedroom and ends up stubbing toe on nightstand***


	21. The Fourth of July, Flock Style

**Hello, peeps! Chapter 21 is here! Yay! This literally took me ALL DAY to write, so be thankful or face my wrath! JK. Anyhoo, I worked really hard on this and would appreciate it if you kept nasty comments to yourself.**

**To IBleedAndIBreatheNoMore: LOL, that's funny. It's like you think they're going to kiss, and then she kicks him in his vulnerable parts.**

**To TerraBB4Eva: Thanks so much, I like to hear stuff like that.**

**To PounceGirl: I like your new word. "Awesome-er"... sounds very cool *grin***

**To Miz636: Me three! If I was being attacked, I'd knee him in the groin too. Actually, I've done that before. I used to take karate when I was eight or something, and the instructor said I was too timid. He told me to fight more fiercely, so when he told me to attack him I did a quick kick right to his groin. He was completely shocked. It was hilarious.**

**To Evilhunterperson: Don't worry, all your questions will be answered in the next few chapters if everything goes as planned and I don't change my mind about what direction I want to take the story in.**

**Anyway, before I go off answering every review I've gotten, let's get on with the story!**

* * *

Fang's eyes widened in shock, and his hands clenched, as did his jaw. I could see that he was biting his lip, his equivalent of rolling around on the floor and howling with pain. Just another reason I was glad to be a girl, I guess; I wasn't held back in the same way.

"What the crap was that for?!" he asked through his teeth.

"Um, hello, do you really not expect me to fight back? After all, you're trying to kill me," I said in a sarcastic tone, putting my fists up by my face in case he was going to try to attack me again. I was ready to do an all-out Mohammad Ali on him if he decided to try to charge me again.

"No, that was Seth."

"Seth?" What the crap was he talking about?

"The other me. He was the one trying to kill you."

"Funny, I didn't see him run out and you come in."

"That because in a complicated way, he _is_ me."

"I don't buy that."

He looked at me almost pleadingly, his dark eyes seeming to beg me to understand him. "I'm telling the truth, Max. You have to believe me."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then let me prove it. Ask me questions only a member of the Flock would know."

I lowered my fists a little and looked into his eyes. They were coal black, dark as the night sky… they were definitely Fang's. But then why had they been red before? And what if he wasn't lying, that he was Fang and the guy who I'd been fighting was this Seth-whoever?

"Fine," I said curtly. "Question one: How did you know that Max II was an imposter?"

He cracked a little bit of a smile. "Because she offered to cook breakfast."

I snorted. "Lucky guess. Question two: When he were driving to Dallas, what song was Gazzy singing over and over?"

"That one constipation song by Weird Al."

"Question three: What did you get me for Christmas this year?"

"A photo album. And, as I recall, you liked it a lot."

Only someone in the Flock could've known that. Only Fang could've known. As I was contemplating this, he took a step closer to me. "And if that doesn't convince you," he said. "I think this might."

Without warning, he leaned in and his lips connected with mine. It was like an electric shock went through my body, and I stood stock-still. But this kiss wasn't passionate or demanding in any way; it was sweet, though at the same time I could practically feel his plea for forgiveness and I knew that he wanted me to understand. This was Fang. I was sure of it now. No one else could make me respond to a kiss like that.

I angled my head and began to kiss him back. I knew that we were in danger every second we spent in this building, but strangely I didn't care. I had him back – that was all that mattered at the moment. A team of Erasers could barge in on us now, and I don't think I'd really care. I had the person I loved back in my life, and that was enough for me.

My fists were gone by now, and my arms snaked up to his shoulders and found their way to his hair. His hands rested on my waist, pulling me close to him, and strangely that's exactly how I wanted it to be. We were so close… I could see every pore on his skin, I could smell his unique woodsy scent, though it was marred by the harsh smell of antiseptics and cleaners from the lab. Still, it was _his_ scent, just like the hair my fingers were becoming tangled in was _his_ hair and the lips touching mine were _his_ lips.

We broke apart only when we ran out of breath, and he stared deep into my eyes as we stood close, both of us breathing hard. "Now do you believe me?" he asked softly.

"Yes," I breathed, leaning into him slightly and feeling his warmth. Any doubt was gone now; no imposter could've made me melt like that, and Fang was probably the only guy I would ever kiss back. "And I'm sorry about kneeing you in the groin."

"At least you didn't kick me," he said half-jokingly. "That would've been even worse."

"I guess you're right." I pulled back and looked at him. "We should get back to the others. They're waiting for us."

"Right." He sprinted out the door, me close on his heels as we ran for the stairs, me telling him where to go through an unspoken language. I guess we just knew each other well enough to know where the other wanted to go without saying a word.

We almost literally flew down the staircases, bounding down two steps at a time as we raced to join the others. The more time we spent here, the greater chance that we were going to be discovered. We needed to get out, fast.

_Angel, where are you?_ I called with my mind as I followed Fang down the stairs.

_Floor-level,_ she answered. _We're at the base of the stairs_.

_See you in a few seconds, I guess. We're heading down now._

_Okay. Oh, and Max?_

_Yeah?_

_Please hurry. I think Iggy and Gazzy's 'surprises' for Itex are going to be going off any minute._

_Thanks for the heads-up._

_Anytime._

I sped up so that I was running beside Fang rather than behind him. "They're at the bottom of the stairs," I said, and he gave a quick nod to show that he'd heard me. "Angel says we'd better hurry up."

"Okay, just another landing and we're there," Fang said, picking up the pace a little. I matched it and we raced down the stairs side-by-side. When we did get to the bottom, I almost ended up running into the wall because I was going so fast it was hard to stop. Luckily, Fang grabbed the back of my shirt and kept me from hitting the hard surface, instead pulling me with him toward the five people standing about ten feet away.

"Max!" Gazzy said excitedly, running up to me and giving me a huge hug. I laughed and ruffled his already-messy hair; I looked at the rest of my family while Gazzy went on babbling about something that I couldn't really make out. Ella was leaning against Iggy, looking pale and sickly; Angel's eyes were closed and a small smile was on her face; Nudge's eyes were flicking between Fang and me, but she didn't say anything so I guessed Angel must've been explaining why we weren't fighting anymore; Iggy looked fine but worried, which was obvious since Ella seemed to be in such bad shape.

The reunion wasn't teary, but it was a happy one. The younger kids were pretty happy to see Fang, and I hugged Ella, who felt frail and weak under my hands. She needed help as soon as possible.

"Uh, guys," Iggy said, pulling the rest of us out of our reunions. "We have to get out of here, like, right now."

"Are your 'surprises' getting ready to go boom?" I asked.

"Yeah. In about two minutes."

Crap. Would we be able to make it out of the building in two minutes?

_There's an emergency exit down the hall, _Angel told me in my mind_. It'll only take half a minute to get to it, and it leads right outside._

_How do you know?_

_I saw one of those evacuation route maps. The door leads out to a staff parking lot in the back of the building._

_It's a good thing you pay attention to little things like that._

She smiled.

"Come on, guys," I said, heading for the hall where Angel had said the exit was. "We have two minutes to get clear of the building."

"Why?" Ella asked as Iggy supported her. "Why only two minutes?"

"Let's just say we're leaving Itex a little surprise," Iggy answered for me, pecking her on the cheek. Then he picked her up bridal-style and said, "Okay, Angel, you're my eyes now."

"Got it, Iggy," she said, nodding a little.

"'Kay, guys, let's blow this dump," I said, heading for the hallway.

It only took us, like Angel had said, half a minute to get out of the building. Once we were at least thirty feet from the outside walls, we huddled behind someone's pick-up truck.

"Why are we stopping?" Fang asked.

Gazzy snorted. "What, did you think we weren't going to stick around and watch the fireworks?"

"What-"

But his words were drowned out as there was a loud boom that resounded through the night. The northwest corner of the compound went up in flames, tongues of red fire licking the air hungrily as they consumed the building and spread. Even outside we could hear the fire alarms blaring, and to the right I saw a door open and people from the party rushing, panicked, out of the burning building.

It was just like the Fourth of July, only Flock style.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Iggy's frightened voice from beside me. "Max," he said. "Oh God, Max, something's wrong with Ella."

* * *

**Muahahahaha - I left you guys with another cliffy! Hehe, I guess I really lived up to my horoscope today; it said I was going to be building on suspense. It was sooo totally right.**

**Okay, so I'm thinking about starting a new story. It's going to be a Twilight crossover with Vladimir Tod (another vampire series). Just so you guys know, you will not have to read the Vlad Tod books to get the parts with him - I'll explain his story as I go along. I'll let you know when I have further details and probably when the first chapter is done. I would really appreciate it if, when it's finally on here, you could read it for me and see what you think. And don't worry, this story will always be my main focus until the day I finish it (whenever that'll be). I'll probably only update that story every weekend or something.**

**As always, I'm asking for reviews! REVIEW! Please! It tells me if I'm doing a good job or not!**


	22. Your Guardian Angel

**I... am... so... freaking... tired! *yawns deeply* It's past 4:00 in the morning, and I've been up since semi-early today. Of course, most of my inspiration comes right before I go to bed, and since I'm allowed to stay up late tonight most of creativity expresses itself around now. Still, it kind of stinks that some of my best inspiration comes at one or two or three in the morning. What can't it come at noon or something? That'd be so much more convenient! I've been listening to hard rock and heavy metal *coughcoughThreeDaysGracecoughcough* just to stay awake so that I can write.**

**To Scaarlett Fever: Hope you don't sic the gophers on me! I got up a double post! Well, technically this isn't a double post, but since it's been less than twelve hours since I posted the last chapter that's what** **I'm considering it to be.**

**To oceanlover14: OTFL**

**To** **dusk3ttex01: Good song, I looked it up on youtube just to see what it sounded like. You have great musical tastes.**

**To IBleedAndIBreatheNoMore: I know, I love what Gazzy said too. I tried to make it at least a little humorous to offbalance all the suspense of drama.**

**To Evilhunterperson: Haha, I didn't fail! And I used your suggestion and added an Iggy POV in this chapter.**

**To Miz636: Nice. My karate teacher was a nice guy and I feel bad about it now, but it was pretty funny at the time. At least he was able to laugh about it.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 22, hope you enjoy it while I finally catch up on all the sleep I've lost. And please forgive me of any minor mistakes made in the post; I wrote most of this between 1:00 and 3:30 am, and I'm drop-dead tired. And please, PLEASE don't flame me!**

* * *

"What?" I asked, hoping beyond hope that he was wrong.

"There's something wrong with Ella, Max. Feel her forehead," Iggy said, smoothing Ella's bangs back to reveal a sweaty forehead, even though it was still winter. My sister's eyes were closed, and her breathing seemed labored. I did as he said, and as soon as I touched her forehead I knew that she was sick. Really, really sick.

"Man, she's burning up," I said. "She needs help. ASAP."

"But how? We can't go to a hospital!"

"Why not? We did it before, when Fang got mauled. This'll be even easier since Ella is completely human."

"But what about the rest of us, Max? They'll want to know things, you know. And they'll probably ask us for blood donations, and God knows we can't give them to her. She'd die from blood clots if whatever's causing the fever doesn't kill her first."

"You're overreacting, Iggy. We need to get her to a hospital as soon as we can, then she'll be fine. Fevers themselves aren't that serious."

"But it's what causes them that could be," Nudge said quietly, and I saw Fang nod solemnly from the corner of my eye.

"Max, just tell me Ella's going to be alright," Iggy pleaded. I felt so bad; I couldn't tell him that, not without lying. I really didn't know if Ella was going to be all right. Who knew what was making her so feverish? It could just be the flu, but it could be something worse too. Something serious.

So I didn't answer his plea. All I said was, "We need to find a hospital."

-----

Needless to say, we didn't just wander around Boston looking for the nearest hospital. That would've taken too much time. Instead, using our inhuman speed and the directions from a city map we found lying on the side of a road, we ran to the closest hospital we could find on foot.

Obviously, I wouldn't normally go running into a hospital at full speed, let alone any speed at all. I'd prefer to just stay out of any; I'd had my full share of chemical smells and antiseptics during my lifetime, and I didn't want any more. But Ella needed me to do this, and so I did it without complaint.

We made quite a scene running into the hospital. I was in the lead with Iggy and Fang flanking me, Ella still only half-conscious in Iggy's arms. He was carrying her bridal-style again, and though she weighed almost as much as him he showed no strain. Behind him, Angel and Gazzy ran side-by-side with Nudge bringing up the rear.

"We need help!" I shouted at the receptionist, who was sitting behind the counter looking absolutely shocked. Then she shook her head like she was clearing her thoughts and pressed a button on the counter. Within a minute Ella was in a stretcher and headed off to some inner part of the hospital; Iggy made to follow her, but one of the nurses stopped him.

"I'm sorry, she needs to be looked at by the doctors," she said. "But you'll be able to see her soon," she added quickly. Iggy nodded numbly and trudged, somehow carefully, over to one of the chairs in the waiting room, which, luckily for us, was empty. Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy sat down in the chairs on either side of him. Fang didn't sit down; instead, he leaned against the wall by the doors through which they'd taken Ella, his eyes scanning the room for exits just like when we used to be on the run. Then again, I guess we were technically on the run again now.

"Um, excuse me? Can I please make a phone call?" I asked the receptionist. She looked up at me and nodded.

"Through the door to the left," she said, pointing to a set of double doors. They weren't the ones Ella had gone through, so there was no chance that I could sneak past the doctors and see her. "You can't miss it."

"Thanks," I said. She was right; it was impossible to miss the phone. It was installed into the wall like a payphone, only it took up a little less room. At least they didn't make me pay any money for my call; when you're a broke bird kid running from powerful companies and mutant wolf-men, you need every penny you can get. Especially when you need to eat three thousand calories a day, considering how much food you need to eat to get that and how much that large quantity of food costs. Sure, I guess I had my endless credit card, but once in a while I liked to pay with actual money. It made me feel normal. Cheesy, right?

I dialed my mom's number and waited nervously. I almost hoped that she wouldn't pick up; it would give me more time to think of what to say to her, how to tell her that her daughter was in the hospital. It was just my luck that she picked up quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom. It's Max."

"Oh, thank heavens, I was starting to think that you weren't going to call me until you got back. Did your mission go well?"

"Well, yeah, but there's something I have to tell you."

"What?"

"It's Ella… she's in the hospital…"

_**Iggy's POV**_

This totally sucked. Normally, I'd say that being in a hospital alone really stunk, but not knowing what was wrong with someone you're close to really makes a trip here worse. I sat in the waiting room anxiously, twiddling my thumbs out of pure boredom and apprehension. What could be wrong with Ella? I couldn't see her, so I didn't even really know what condition she was in. It was an understatement to say that I was worried – I was frantic.

I heard doors open somewhere, but my hope that it was the doctors coming back to tell me I could go and see her faded when I heard the familiar clunky step of Max's combat boots. She murmured a quiet greeting to the Flock and sat down on a chair somewhere to my right.

"This really sucks," Gazzy said.

"Language," Max reminded him.

"Fine, this really _stinks_. Happy, O Dictator of the Speech?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. Well, not about every aspect right now, but about the language I am very happy."

There was an awkward silence for a while, and then Nudge spoke up.

"So, Max, what's up with your mom?"

I heard Max shift in her seat. "She's coming here on the first flight she can get. And she's bringing Jeb."

"Jeb? Why?" I asked.

"Actually, I asked her to. He's the only one who can help us with some… complicated stuff right now."

"What kind of 'complicated' stuff?"

I was pretty sure that Max exchanged a glance with someone, probably Fang, because she didn't answer at first. Then, she said, "Stuff about Itex. It's just some things we need to know, that's all. You don't have to worry about it."

For some reason, that didn't reassure me.

_**Max's POV**_

If I hadn't been so upset about Ella, I might've considered the rest of the night a drag. Eventually, the receptionist asked us if we were going to be staying all night; we said yes, of course, because we had nowhere else to go. Eventually, the lady decided to put on the radio for us, and quiet music floated to our ears as we gradually became sleepier and sleepier. In our defense, raiding and blowing up a huge research compound takes up a lot of energy, especially when we barely even get enough calories to keep ourselves functioning through the day. I calmly listened to the music floating out of the single speaker over my seat.

_When I see your smile  
Tears run down my face, I can't replace  
And now that I'm strong I have figured out  
How this world turns cold and it breaks through my soul  
And I know I'll find deep inside me I can be the one_

_I will never let you fall  
I'll stand up with you forever  
I'll be there for you through it all  
Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

Fang came and sat in the seat next to mine. "Tired?" he asked, and I nodded.

"You?"

He shrugged. "I can probably stay awake a little longer."

"Liar," I said. "I bet you're just as tired as the rest of us."

He shrugged again.

"Whatever," I said, repositoining myself in my chair and going back to listening to the music.

_It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.  
Seasons are changing  
And waves are crashing  
And stars are falling all for us  
Days grow longer and nights grow shorter  
I can show you I'll be the one_

_I will never let you fall  
I'll stand up with you forever  
I'll be there for you through it all  
Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

_Cuz you're my, you're my, my, my true love, my whole heart  
Please don't throw that away  
Your Guardian Angel  
Cuz I'm here for you  
Please don't walk away and  
Please tell me you'll stay, stay_

Soon, I found myself nodding off, unable to fight the urge to sleep. I was pathetically tired, and my subconcious mind told me to just give in already and get some sleep. But I was worried about Ella; what if the doctors came with news of her and we were all asleep? I didn't want to look like a worn-out homeless kid when my sister was in trouble… then again, I guess I kind of am a worn-out homeless kid.

"You know you're allowed to go to sleep, right?" Fang raised an eyebrow as I grunted in response and repositoined myself yet again.

"Yeah, I know," I said. "It's just… what if they come to tell us we can see Ella and we're all asleep?"

"They'd probably just wake us up."

"Still…"

"Look, Max, just get some sleep," he said, gently shifting me onto his shoulder. He was warm, and his woodsy scent filled my nose. I found myself snuggling into him a little, and he kissed me softly on the forehead.

"Good night, Fang," I murmured.

"Good night, Max," he murmured back. It was the last thing I was conciously aware of before drifting off into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

_Use me as you will  
Pull my strings just for a thrill  
And I know I'll be okay  
Though my skies are turning gray_

_I will never let you fall  
I'll stand up with you forever  
I'll be there for you through it all  
Even if saving you sends me to heaven_

* * *

**See, no cliffy this time. Oh, and the song at the end was "Your Guardian Angel" by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, just in case anyone wants to know. Great song, though you can't get all the meaning out of just the lyrics. When I first heard it, I was like "OMG, this is such a touching song" and then I decided to put it in here when I needed a song for the radio. Originally, I was going to put in "Get Out Alive" (another really great song done by Three Days Grace), but that song isn't touching enough for a hospital scene. Then I was going to do "How to Save a Life" by the Fray, and then I finally settled on this. Anyway, I hope you liked it!**

**Mini Disclaimer-thingy: I don't own the songs mentioned above or the bands or the lyrics to "Your Guardian Angel" or anything of that nature.**

**Oh, and as always I'm asking you to REVIEW!!!!**


	23. Hospital Visit

**Muahahahaha, chapter 23 is finally up! Didn't take uber long to write, though it did take a little while because I kept getting distracted. Oh well. I hope you like it, I worked hard on it as usual, and I'm still asking that you don't flame me.**

**To A Girl Can Wish: Thanks! And yeah, that song is absolutely AWESOME! Love it!**

**To oceanlover14: Lots of questions, and I promise they'll be answered. I never leave a question completely unanswered, though I do sometimes draw the discovery of the answer out. It's a talent of mine.**

**To Fangirl: Thanks so much! Nice to know that it sounds interesting to people!**

**To dogwithnonose: Thank you! As I told you via PM, my friends call me a total Grammar Dictator. I even correct spoken grammar, something my friends really nag me about. And I really do try to keep a strong plot in my stories.**

**Anyway, let's get on with the story!!**

* * *

I was vaguely aware of someone gently shaking my shoulder. I moaned and murmured "Go away" before shifting myself a little so I was leaning more on Fang. This was the first semi-good night's sleep I'd had in a while, and I wasn't going to give it up that easily.

"Come on, Max, get up," Gazzy said, shaking me again.

"No," I muttered, still half-asleep.

"Your mom's here." Instantly, I was awake and not ready to go back to sleep anytime soon.

"Really?"

"Yeah. She just got here."

I yawned tiredly and looked around the waiting room, licking my dry lips. My mom was talking with one of the nurses, obviously asking when she would be able to see Ella. Jeb wasn't anywhere to be seen, but I guessed he was around here somewhere. I noticed, with an amount of nervousness, that the rest of the Flock wasn't in the waiting room.

"Don't worry," Fang said, obviously sensing my unease. "Everyone's down in the cafeteria. They got too hungry to wait for you."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, yawning again. I must've been out a while because I only ever yawned like this when I've been sleeping for hours and hours and hours on end.

"About twelve hours."

Twelve hours? Holy crow that was long. And the funniest thing was that it felt like I'd only gotten to sleep about an hour ago or so. Oh well… at least I wasn't so tired anymore.

"Any news on Ella?" I asked, shifting myself in my chair so that I wasn't leaning on Fang anymore. His arm was probably sore where I'd been sleeping on it all night.

Gazzy shrugged his shoulders. "The only thing they told us is that she isn't going to die. And they're going to let us see her pretty soon."

"How soon, exactly?"

"I dunno. Maybe a couple of hours or so."

I nodded and slumped back in my chair. It was silent for a while, and then Gazzy's stomach began to growl. He guiltily rubbed his stomach, and I rolled my eyes. "Gaz, if you're hungry all you have to do is tell us," I said, standing up and pulling him up by his hand. "C'mon, let's go meet the rest of the Flock in the cafeteria." He nodded, and as we began to walk away Fang stood up and followed us silently.

The cafeteria wasn't large or fancy, but nonetheless it was pretty crowded. As we went through the line, we piled out trays high with all kinds of chicken, mashed potatoes, and other kinds of hospital food. This wasn't going to be a very tasty meal, seeing as the food wasn't hot or even fresh, but at least it would satisfy our stomachs for a while.

Taking our trays and paying for the food, we made our way out to the booths and tables in an expansive dining room. I spotted Angel, Nudge, and Iggy almost immediately; it was hard to miss three extremely tall kids, especially when one of them was over six feet tall and could look over most adults' heads. I nudged Fang with my elbow and nodded to them, and then did the same to Gazzy. Together, we headed over to their table, where there were still a few empty seats. As we approached, Nudge saw us first.

"It's nice to see you're finally up," she said lightly as I sat down beside her. "I was beginning to think you'd sleep all day."

"I probably would've if Gazzy hadn't woken me up to tell me Mom was here," I told her as I bit into a chunk of fried chicken. It tasted horrible, but I was too hungry to care about that; I dug right in without hesitation like a lion that hasn't eaten for weeks.

"Have you talked to your mom yet?"

"No. I guess I'm kind of avoiding it. I mean, what do you talk about when an immediate family member is in the hospital and you don't even know how they're doing?"

Nudge was silent for a second, thinking, then said, "I guess you're right. I'm coming up empty."

"Exactly." I tried a little bite of potatoes; it was as bad as the chicken, if not worse.

Iggy was silent and thoughtful as the rest of us started talking about what could be wrong with Ella. Nudge thought Itex might've experimented on her; I said that was impossible because she was a teenager and wouldn't react well to anything. Anyway, what could they do with a normal human? Angel said that they probably just didn't take good enough care of her, and Gazzy sided with her. Personally, that was pretty much what I was thinking too. Fang stayed quiet for the most part, nodding now and then whenever we asked him a question or if he agreed with one of our theories.

Needless to say, it didn't take long for all of us to finish our meals. Needing three thousand calories a day really makes you eat a lot, and we were so used to having to eat quickly that we did it subconsciously. It felt almost strange to not be roasting something over a campfire, not that I'm complaining or anything.

When we got back to the waiting room, the first thing I noticed was that Jeb was sitting in one of the chairs, reading a health magazine. He looked different in casual clothes; his gray hair contrasted differently with the tan turtleneck and brown corduroy jacket than it did with the white lab coat that I'd seen him in for the first ten years of my life. Someone who didn't know his past probably would've never been able to guess that he used to be a scientist helping people try to take over the world.

The second thing was that my mom was gone.

He looked up when we entered and closed his magazine quietly, setting it on the small table beside him. "Valencia went with the doctors to see Ella," he said. "You're allowed to visit her whenever you like. The doctors have gotten her into a more stable condition."

"Thanks," I said, heading for the double doors. "Do you know what room she's in?"

"Room 106-A."

I nodded. "We'll talk when I'm done visiting my sister," I said, pushing open one of the doors and letting the rest of the Flock walk through in front of me, Fang lingering behind so he walk alongside me. He nodded, and I walked through the door with Fang by my side, leaving Jeb in the waiting room.

The hall was, luckily, not exactly busy. We found room 106-A, and I knocked politely to make sure we wouldn't be interrupting anything. There was a small "Come in", and I gently opened the door.

Ella was lying on a gurney, an IV hooked up to her arm. She still looked fairly pale and sickly, but at least now her breathing was normal; another plus was that the heart monitor she was hooked up to was bleeping at regular intervals, meaning there was nothing wrong with her heart and that it was functioning perfectly.

I heard Iggy suck in a breath, and when I looked at him he quietly said, "The walls are white, so I can see everything. God, she looks like she's been through a lot." He drifted over to her bedside and knelt beside her, taking her hand in his and talking to her in a soft tone. He loved her so, so much, as much as I loved Fang.

My mom was sitting on a chair by Ella's gurney. She looked up at us when we entered and smiled warmly. "It's a shame that the first time I see you after your mission is in the hospital," she said, looking at Ella again.

"Yeah," I said, "It stinks." I went next to Iggy and kneeled down beside him, Fang settling down on my other side. The younger kids shared the opposite side of Ella's bedside with my mom. Ella smiled at me, and I asked her, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay, I guess," she said, fingering the IV. "The doctors said I was really dehydrated and malnourished, though they can't explain the fever. Either way, the fever's pretty much gone now and they've got me on some medicines to help me recover. I don't know how much longer they're going to be keeping me here, though."

I nodded absent-mindedly. "I guess it could've been worse," I said.

"Yeah. I'm glad you guys came when you did. Otherwise, who knows what would've happened."

I saw Iggy's hand tighten around hers. He was obviously holding a vendetta against Itex for doing this to her, not that a vendetta for cooping him up for the first ten years of his life and making him blind wasn't enough.

"You would've lived," Iggy said. "You're strong."

Ella laughed. "Are you kidding? I'm just a weak little human."

"Human, maybe, but a strong one."

We stayed in the room for a long time, telling Ella how happy we were that she was okay and letting her know how everything was going. We told her about how we broke into Itex to rescue her and Fang, though I left out the part with Seth. I didn't really think she needed to know anything about it, at least not until I knew more myself.

That was why I told my mom to bring Jeb. He was the only one who could help us with it, tell us what it was all about. And we needed to know about it because, though Fang showed no sign of a struggle for control, I didn't think Seth was completely gone. He was probably still waiting somewhere in Fang, waiting for Fang to slip and let him take control again.

It was probably even scarier than knowing that Erasers lurk in the darkness, waiting for you. It was scarier because Seth could take control at almost any time, without warning. And when he did, it was very possible that he would kill us all.

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**Hope you liked it! I might not be able to update in a couple days because tomorrow is going to be a busy day for me, then Sunday is Easter, then Monday I'm going to be spending the day with my dad. I'll update as soon as I can, though, I promise! And don't forget to REVIEW!**

**Oh, and though I'm still thinking about the Vladimir Tod/Twilight crossover, I'm going to start writing a story about the Clearwater siblings called "Adventures in Babysitting". It's just going to be a fun and fluffy story, no drama or gore. Basically, Seth and Leah have to watch a younger cousin and chaos ensues. It might not be up for a while 'cause this is still my main focus, but I really hope that I'll be able to get it up realitively soon.**


	24. Fight It

**I'M REALLY SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER!!!!!**

**My life's been really hectic, and to top it off I got sick the other day. Ick. But there is good news! Three topics of good news, actually.**

_**1. I've gotten 280 reviews on this story so far. You guys rock! Thanks so much!**_

_**2. My Fictionpress profile is offically up and running, and I posted a poem yesterday. Check it out sometime! You can find a link on my profile.**_

_**3. My Twilight story is finally up! Yay! I'd kind of like it if you could check it out, just so I can get some feedback on things I need to improve and if I should definitely keep going.**_

**To dogwithnonose: Actually, no. I wasn't even thinking about it, and I still don't know how this story's going to end.**

**To dusk3ttex01: Yeah, you're right, that does sound wierd. Amusing, but weird. :)**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm really not that satisfied with it, but I had major writer's block (the first for this story, actually) and I was kind of desperate to post it. Hope you like it anyway, and I'm still asking that you PLEASE don't flame me. Enjoy!**

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After the first four hours of staying in the hospital room with Ella, I lost track of time. The only window in the room had its blinds closed, though by the time we left no light was shining from the other side. According to the clock I hadn't seen until I was leaving, it was already nine o'clock in the evening. We'd gone into the room around two.

After all the grief and then gaining the knowledge that Ella was going to make a full recovery, the little kids wanted to go to bed. Thing is, being on the run and all, we didn't have a place to sleep. Not even a place to lie down for half an hour. Zip, zilch, nada… I think you get the idea.

"I rented a couple of rooms in a hotel a few blocks from the hospital," Dr. Martinez said. She'd left with us only because the doctors had basically kicked her out. Their excuse was that visiting hours were over. That was actually why we'd left too, otherwise we'd probably just crash in the room with Ella. It's not like she'd turn us down.

"Really?" I asked. Being in a hotel probably wasn't a good idea for us, seeing as we're being hunted by Erasers and all, but it was our best option at the moment. The little kids needed a decent night's sleep on an actual bed. Sure, concrete floors and park benches could do the trick, but nothing could compare with actually sleeping on a mattress. It felt like ages since I'd actually slept on a bed, even though I knew it'd only been a little over a week. "How many?"

"Four. I figured that you could pair up and share rooms and that I'll take the last one. And Jeb has his own room on a different floor that he's paying for himself."

"Sure," I said. "We could definitely do that. Pair up, I mean. It's probably best that we do it that way. Just in case something… happens."

My mom nodded gravely. She knew that my old paranoia was back and worse than ever, and that it was probably the smartest thing to pair us up. An older kid with a younger kid, maybe. I was going over the pairs in my head. Nudge could probably room with Angel, and there was definitely no way I was going to separate Iggy and Gazzy without making both of them hate my guts. That left me and Fang.

I know it sounds kind of gross to share your room with a guy, but really I wasn't all that freaked out at the thought. Maybe it's because I've shared sleeping space with him before, when we were on the run the first time. I've slept back to back with him before, so I wasn't as creeped as a normal girl might've been. Then again, considering the fact that I was probably going to be sharing a bed with him _did_ make it pretty awkward to say the least.

Still, I wasn't going to pass up a good night's sleep. Even if I had to sleep on the floor, it was better than concrete and I would enjoy while I could. Seeing as the opportunity to sleep in a comfortable spot rarely arises for us, I wasn't about to ruin Fang's or everyone else's good night sleep for my own personal awkwardness. I'd just tell him I wanted to sleep on the floor. After all that he's been through since he was kidnapped, he deserved the bed more than I did.

The hotel wasn't exactly one of those cheapo ones that has cockroaches running around, but it wasn't exactly a five-star one either. The bathrooms were kind of crappy, luckily not in literal sense, and the bed sheets, according to Angel, were scratchy. Still, as I said, it's a whole lot better than sleeping on a slab of concrete. A _whole_ lot better.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the room I'd be sharing with Fang had an old sofa pressed up against one of the walls. At least I wouldn't be sleeping on the floor.

"I'm going to get a shower," I said to Fang as I headed for the bathroom door. He nodded, sitting down on the edge of the bed and rubbing his shoulder, probably loosening the muscles. They would've cramped up after sitting so still in the hospital for such a long time. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't go invisible. Then again, it would've pretty much ruined our cover if he just disappeared and then popped up again right in front of someone.

Undressing and stepping into the old, cracked tub and pulling the shower curtain closed, I turned on the water. It was really, really cold at first, but then it started to heat up and after five minutes or so the water was scorching. I let it run over my wings and body, sighing with pathetic pleasure as it relaxed my muscles and soothed my nerves. What can I say? The shower is one of my only refuges from the world.

I reluctantly stepped out of the shower when the hot water began to run out about forty minutes later, shaking my head like a wet dog would to get rid of the excess water. I changed into an old, oversized T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that my mom had lent me to replace the filthy shirt and jeans I've been living in for the past week, and I pulled my wet hair back in a loose ponytail to get it out of my face while it dried.

My appearance in the mirror was horrid. There were circles under my eyes, and my hair was knotted because it was so uncared for. My skin, normally tan, was pale and sallow looking, and worry lines seemed to be permanently etched into my forehead. I didn't like this version of me; it made me look like an old worrywart. And the baggy clothes didn't help much.

Shaking my head, I went back out into the main part of the hotel room. For a second, I thought Fang had left, but then he moved and I could make him out clearly against the brown material of the couch.

"Hey," he said nonchalantly as I eased myself onto the cushion beside him. Even after the hot shower, my muscles were still stiff, and I didn't want to do anything drastic like just plop myself down. I know it doesn't sound serious, but try doing it when you feel like you're made of plaster and you'll find out what a bad idea it is.

"Hey," I answered, leaning on him a little and letting his heat warm me. Sure, we're all freakishly hot because of our bird genes, but I swear Fang had an inner body temperature equal to that of a volcano's magma chambers.

As we just sat there, in comfortable and complete silence, a thought occurred to me. I was supposed to talk to Jeb about Fang and Seth after my visit with Ella was done. Oh well. Jeb had left us thinking he was dead for more than two years, so this was at least a little bit of payback, making him wait. Maybe I'd avoid him tomorrow too, just to get on his nerves.

"So," I said, trying to start some conversation. Though I didn't mind the silence, there were a couple of things I wanted to talk about. "How's everything?"

Fang raised an eyebrow and looked down at me. "'Everything' being what, exactly?"

"You know. Your health, your mind…"

"My new, monstrous alter-ego?"

"I was getting there."

He sighed and looked over my head, toward the only window in the room. It was open even though it was the middle of winter, a small breeze filling the room with fresh air. _He must be thinking about something. But what? Something he doesn't want to discuss with me?_

"To answer you're first two questions, I'm fine."

"Okay, what about the third?"

He was silent for a while, and I didn't pry. It was a touchy subject for him, seeing as technically he'd tried to kill me.

"It's kind of… weird," he said finally, looking back to me. His dark eyes were filled with something close to confusion, but yet it was different. It was an emotion almost like desperation. "It's like he's gone, but at the same time he's always there."

"It's like my Voice," I said. "I always know it's there, even when it doesn't talk."

He shook his head. "I don't think so. The Voice doesn't try to possess you, does it?"

"Good point," I granted.

"And it's not bent on killing the only person you love, is it?"

"Okay, now you're making me feel bad."

"Why the heck should you feel bad? You didn't do this to me."

"I know," I murmured. "It's just… if I'd gotten there sooner, maybe it wouldn't have happened, maybe Seth wouldn't have come up…"

Fang actually barked a laugh. I looked at him quizzically. "What?" I asked defensively.

"Oh, nothing. Just the fact that you think time has anything to do with this."

"Well, it does."

"And how, exactly? They would've done it to me sooner if they knew you were coming for me, but they didn't so they held off."

"And if we'd just gone a little faster, Seth wouldn't be around."

"You can't prove that." He tilted my chin so that I was looking right into his eyes. "Listen, Max. I don't blame you. I don't blame the Flock. If I blame anyone, I blame those sick scientists and Itex. They did this to me, and I'm going to have to live with it. But you know what? I'm not scared. I'm going to fight this; I'm going to try to get rid of Seth once and for all, and then we can live our happily ever after."

Our happily ever after. So far off, yet so close. I almost wanted to say that happily ever afters didn't exist, but I kept my mouth shut and let myself melt in Fang's eyes. A slow smile formed on my lips, and I let myself lean more into him. His woodsy scent filled my nose; it was so much better than the detergent of the sheets, which I could smell all the way over here on the couch.

"I'm glad to hear that," I said, starting to feel very sleepy all of a sudden. He seemed to sense this, and I felt his arms gently wrap around my waist, keeping me close. He rested his chin on my head, slowly and ever so gently pulling my head against his chest. His warmth seemed to leech into me, and I felt my eyelids flutter closed. Too tired to resist, I let myself fall asleep.

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**Again, hope you liked it. Stayed up till 2:40 doing it for you, so I have an excuse of why it stinks so much. The last part wasn't too bad, but the rest of it, in my opinion, is some of the worst writing in the story. But I'm going to try harder next chapter and hopefully get it up faster.**

**As always, REVIEW! And please, no flames! Think nice, happy thoughts!**


	25. MTV and Gossip

**I'm so so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry for not updating this sooner! I was looking at my profile today and realized that I haven't updated this in a whole week, and I'm like "WHAT?! I've been slacking that long?!" And then I started writing this chapter immediately.**

**My life has been uber hectic. And Evilhunterperson will probably be the only one to understand the next paragraph, but I need to vent. **

**Okay, so I got a new bow. First of all, the poundage is heavier than my previous bow and my instructor is getting on my case about 'not pulling the kisser far enough', and now the sight is all jacked up because it wasn't going in the right place. I spent all of Wednesday down at my sportsman's club trying to sight it in to absolutely no avail, and now the person who sells me my equipment is trying to force a clicker on me. I CAN'T SHOOT WITH A CLICKER!!! I just can't! I tried once and practically missed every shot because I wasn't used to it. I mean, my new bow costs close to $400 including the accessories and case and everything. I want to have it _my_ way, if you know what I mean. I'm going to stop now, before I say something I regret or before I totally bore you out of your mind with my ranting.**

**Anyway... 289 reviews. You guys rock! Thank you thank you thank you! If you guys keep reviewing, which I hope you do, I might reach 300 in the next 2 chapters. That would be amazing because I never thought this fic would be so popular.**

**Before I get any more disracted, let's get on with the story! Chapter 25! Whoo-hoo!**

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I woke up for the second morning with Fang, only this time I was leaning against him with my whole body instead of just leaning on his shoulder. I could feel his chest rising and falling under me as he breathed, and I just stayed there for a minute, listening to his quiet snoring as he slept. He seemed so peaceful, like nothing was happening. Like nothing was wrong.

Like nothing was wrong. How much I'd give for that to be true, for nothing to be wrong, for everything to be alright. Just like after I'd saved the world. Everything was perfect, everything was going my way in life for the first time. Now, it was back to the usual routine: avoid evil scientists and mutants, try to take down Itex, watch after my family, get all mushy about Fang. You know, average teenage stuff. At least average avian-hybrid teenage stuff.

Seeing as Fang's arms were still around my waist and I didn't want to wake him up, I was content just to sit there, leaning against his chest while he slept away the morning. I looked up at the ceiling, finding every flaw in the paint and when I was done with that I moved to the floor.

"We're making a habit of this, aren't we?" a sleepy voice said. I jumped a little, but not too much because of Fang's arms being around my waist. He yawned widely, jerking his head to get his long bangs out of his face.

"What do you mean?"

"This is the second night in a row you've fallen asleep on me."

Huh, my thoughts exactly. "You don't exactly seem to be complaining," I pointed out.

"Not at all."

"Do you secretly enjoy it?" I asked sarcastically.

He grinned, his teeth white against his olive skin. "Maybe," he said. "Maybe not."

"Very funny," I said, scooting off him so he could get more comfortable. "And very childish."

"I never said I was an adult."

Rolling my eyes to end the discussion, I eased myself off the sofa and stretched, loosening up my tight arm and leg muscles. Everything seemed to hurt this morning; it was probably just because my body had to do some major healing over the last couple of days. Still, I made a mental note to never let myself get this sore again. It was almost as bad as getting doused in gasoline and set on fire. Not that I know what that feels like, though I do have a pretty good idea. One word – experimentation. And I don't really think I need to collaborate on that much.

"We have to talk to Jeb today," I said, going over to the outdated television and seeing if there was a remote for it. Apparently, there wasn't, so I ended up having to flick through the channels manually until I got to MTV.

"What for? Make him wait a week or two."

"In a week or two we'll probably be halfway across the country."

"Exactly. There's no real reason for us to be talking to that creep anyway."

"Fang, he has information that we need," I said, facing him and putting my hands on my hips. "I'm not going to ruin the opportunity to get the info just to make a point and get payback. He's the only person on the inside we know, and after all, Jeb might help us get rid of Seth."

Fang tensed up when I mentioned Seth. I knew he'd do anything to get rid of the dangerous foe, even trust Jeb. Seth was just too dangerous to ignore.

"Fine, you win," he said, standing up and coming over to me. He lightly brushed his fingers down the length of my arm, and my skin seemed to produce sparks where his skin touched mine. "But I want to know something."

"Yeah?"

"If Jeb ends up betraying us again, can I kick him into next week? Just thought I should ask, since he's your dad and all."

I laughed. And here I thought he was getting all romantic. "Mind if I do it with you?" I asked, and he smiled. One of those rare smiles that just lights up my day, not like the playful one he'd given me earlier.

He pecked me softly on the cheek before pulling away and going to the door. "You might as well shut off the TV," he said, motioning out the door with a slow jerk of his head. "We're probably not going to be back in here for a while, and there's no sense letting it run when we're not here."

"Good point," I said, pushing the power button and watching the screen go blank. "No need to waste energy, right?"

"Especially since that's what we were saving the world from," Fang said as I walked by him on my way out the door seconds later. "Energy hoarders."

"Who says I hoard energy? Just 'cause I leave the light on sometimes doesn't mean that I don't care about the environment."

"Sure," he said, drawing out the word. "Keep making yourself feel good while the ozone layer breaks down."

I elbowed him right in the gut and then stuck my tongue out at him like the motherly figure I am.

But I never said I was a _mature_ motherly figure, now did I?

**_Nudge's POV_**

Have you ever had hotel food? I mean, this hotel wasn't all that bad, but the food stunk. Eating the sausage and egg breakfast was like eating yellow goo and a gray cigar or something. Gross. I'm surprised that I was even able to down the food. Then again, needing three thousand calories a day usually made you super hungry, so we tended not to complain much about the quality of our food. To us, quantity matters most.

"Someone please distract me before I barf," Gazzy said, taking a bite of hard toast with a sickened expression. Normally, we would've walked away by now, but seeing as we had absolutely no cash and Max had her credit card with her, we had no other means of acquiring food. So, we sucked it up and ate whatever we were given, which happened to be the utterly disgusting complimentary breakfast the hotel called 'high quality'. Yeah right.

"So, Angel, anything interesting going on?" I asked, picking at my bacon. I guess having a mind reader came in handy when you were looking for interesting topics to gossip about. And I'm not afraid to admit that I love gossip.

"The man at the counter has on new socks," Angel said, motioning to a middle-aged man checking into the hotel. "And he's planning a way to rip off the cleaning ladies."

"Well that's rude," I said. "Anything else? What about Max and Fang? Are they up yet?"

"Yeah, they just got up. I think Max is kind of embarrassed."

"Why?"

"Well, she fell asleep on Fang again last night."

"_On _Fang? Again?" Now there was something interesting. Romantic gossip was the best you could get.

"Well, not literally _on _him. But yeah, it's the second night in a row she's fell asleep leaning on him."

"That's what you get when you let two hormonal teenagers of the opposite sex share a room together," Iggy said matter-of-factly.

"What's 'sex' mean?"

I threw a glare at Iggy, but the effect was lost because of him being blind. "You don't need to know, Angel," I said. "One meaning of it is the same as gender, like whether you're a boy or a girl."

"Oh. That makes sense."

It was kind of silent for a while. I could tell what Iggy was thinking about just by looking at his face. Ella. He was really, really worried about her. Just as worried about her as Max had been about Fang. It was nice to know that he'd found someone that he loved that much.

But what about me? I was almost thirteen, old enough to have a boyfriend. Would I ever find someone that was special to me?

I really, really hoped so.

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**Looks like Nudge is getting the first teenage hormones. Poor kid, she'll probably never end up with anyone until this whole 'taking down Itex' thing is over again. You've got to feel bad for her.**

**Anyway, I apologize again for not getting this up sooner. And I know this chapter wasn't all that great - it was a filler, so PLEASE DON'T FLAME ME for it! Next chapter's going to be important, and questions will be answered. I promise. And, as always, I want reviews. Virtual cupcake to anyone who will REVIEW!**


	26. Explanations

**Okay, I'm sorry I've been out of the picture so long. I've been having a hectic life - more than normal, anyway. Firstly, I have a horse show coming up and I have to try to get used to the new horse I'm going to be riding before it. And on Tuesday, I sprained my knee. GREAT. I've had to walk on crutches for the last two days, and depending on if my knee is healed enough I might have to walk on them for a couple more days. Not something I'm looking forward to.**

**Oh, and on a different note, I changed my avatar! Woot! It's Dezi! (Dezi is one of the horses at the stables I ride at. He's just the sweetest horse you'll ever meet. I can't ride him because he's a racehorse, but we always hug each other. Lots of Kodak moments around his stall, let me tell you that much.)**

**This chapter is short, I know. I'm very, very sorry. I've hit some serious writer's block - on both this story and all of my others - and I've been struggling to overcome it. Looks like I did! Woot!**

**Anyway, let's get on with the story.**

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**_Fang's POV_**

Jeb's room was plain. The walls were a whitish-beige color, and the stained carpet was a disgusting brown, almost like puked-up bread. I guess you could say that I wasn't a huge fan of the colors.

Jeb was sitting in one of the two chairs. Max settled in the other, and I leaned on the wall next to her. We were both staring at Jeb, waiting for him to start. Neither of us were very good conversation-starters, so when we had the opportunity we let someone else talk first.

"You wanted to see me?" he said, his face blank. Something told me that he wasn't exactly looking forward to this conversation.

"Yeah," Max said. "It's about Itex."

"You know I don't work there anymore."

"Still, you're the only person we know that could give us an ounce of information," I said, crossing my arms. "It's not like we're going to risk our lives to get the same info we can get from you."

"Fine. What do you need to know?"

"Firstly, how could Itex have survived?" Max asked. "Especially with the Director in prison and being exposed for what they are."

"I think you already know that they've changed their name."

"Yeah. So what?"

"In changing their name, they changed themselves. They made themselves look a brand new company full of fresh new ideas. It's a shame the public didn't see it coming."

"Isn't more of a shame that the _government _didn't see it coming?" I snorted. "They could've stopped Itex before it even restarted."

"True, but it's the same as when Max was captured in Germany. Without the public's help, nothing could've been done. It's the same principle."

"So if I just post a couple of times on my blog and tell everyone to revolt against Scientia, a.k.a. Itex, we can take them down again?"

Jeb shrugged a little. "It would definitely help, but just like in Germany the government is needed as well. Unfortunately for us, the United States as a democracy seems to be behind Itex."

"They're giving Itex funding, aren't they?" Max asked. "No, scratch that. _Taxpayers_ are giving Itex funding, right?"

"Yes." Great. Every American was indirectly funding the scientists that experimented on children, gave them wings, and then tried to kill them. Is that messed up or what?

"Is that all?" Jeb asked a little too eagerly, obviously hoping the whole conversation was over.

"No, there's something else." Max looked up at me. "You want to tell him?" she asked.

"Whatever." I decided to get right to the point; let's just say that I'm not much of an explanatory person, you know? "I've got my own little Voice now."

"What?" Jeb sounded completely confused, and I could almost imagine him scratching his head. But, of course, he didn't. He was too dignified for that. "There's only one Voice."

"Well, I guess it's not really a Voice," I said. "More like a demonic second personality that's bent on killing Max and can possess my body. But other than that, I guess it's my own Voice."

Jeb sank back further into his chair and closed his eyes, a calculating looking coming over his face. He was trying to figure something out; he used to use that look when he had to figure out who had set the kitchen on fire or who had stained the carpet at the old house, the one in the mountains. Sometimes I wondered if it was still around or not, but we were happy with our new house near Seattle and didn't have any plans to go back to Colorado anytime soon. Then again, we didn't have any plans to head back to Seattle either. Itex had probably already put some surveillance up to see if we'd come back.

"Did they do any experiments on you when you were captured?" Jeb asked, his eyes still closed.

"Yeah."

"Any surgeries?"

"Uh, yeah.'

Max sucked in a breath, and her hands clenched. I guess I forgot to tell her about the surgery. Oops.

"Did your second personality show up right after one of the surgeries?"

"I guess. I didn't really wake up from the anesthesia, if you know what I mean."

Jeb's eyes opened. "This isn't good," he said in a low voice. "This isn't good at all."

"Why?" Max asked. She looked kind of tense; when Jeb said something wasn't good, it usually wasn't.

"Fang is displaying side effects of a certain enhancement formula," he said, but then he shook his head. "But none of this makes sense. I thought they abandoned the project years ago. They were using it frequently while you were at the School, trying to perfect it by testing it on mutants. But I thought they threw away the files after I took you away from there."

He looked up at me, and then back down to Max. "That's why I took you away in the first place. They were planning on testing the enhancers on you, seeing what it did to a more human specimen. They knew everything they needed to know; they knew that they'd have to transplant the formula into your bone marrow via surgery, that they'd have to monitor you for days after the experiment. And I knew that it was a very real possibility that your DNA would refuse the enhancements, that it would begin to unravel."

"But why now?" Max whispered. "Why just start reusing it now?"

Jeb shook his head. "I don't know Itex's motives. But there's something that both of you should know, and that you should keep hidden from the younger ones for at least a little while."

"What is it?"

"There's a very real probability that Fang's DNA could reject the formula."

"And what would happen if it did?" Max asked, her voice barely more than a whisper. I wasn't all that anxious to hear what it could mean for me, but I knew I'd have to listen. It could be something important, after all. Life or death and all that jazz.

"He could die."

Crap. Definitely not something I wanted to hear.

* * *

**Hmm, not much to say after this chapter. Usually I'm in a chatty mood after writing. I guess it's cause of all the drama going on in my life right now.**

**Anyway, I'm still asking that you not flame me. But I am asking for reviews! And we've hit over 300 reviews! Whoo-hoo! Just a few more, guys, and we'll hit 350! Yay!**


	27. A Sliver of Hope

**I'm soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry I've been off the site for so long. Since it's the end of the school year, it's finals season, and I'm going to be having my last one on Monday. There is some good news though! After school lets out, I should be able to update more often. Hopefully, anyway.**

**I've also been really busy with other stuff too. Tonight was Honors Banquet, and I found out that I'm one of the top 12 students in a class of 360 kids! I'm such a nerd! XD And last weekend was my first horse show; I am proud to announce that my new horse, Jerrico, and I brought home two ribbons. Neither of them were blue, but I'd only been riding Jerrico for 5 hours before the show, so I think that our performance was pretty darn good under the circumstances!**

**REQUEST FOR ALL THE READERS!!!!!: Check out this one site I belong to called Howrse. It's a really fun site; you join, raise horses (which is very easy, let me tell you) and try to build your reputation so that you're one of the best. If you're a member, look me up! My name on the site is _ambergirl109. _If you haven't joined yet, check it out and if you do end up joining, please say that I (as ambergirl109) am your sponsorer! I think that automatically makes us friends, but if not then PM me when you get an account! Then I'll send a friend request so we can be friends!**

**That's it for now. Again, I'm sorry for the long absense, but I hope that this uber long chapter will make up for it a little.**

* * *

**_Max's POV_**

Oh God. Those were the only words going through my mind. Oh God, oh God, oh God… the two words kept running through my head, over and over. I wouldn't have heard anything that Fang and Jeb said; all I could process was what Jeb confirmed. It scared me. Jeb had been our only hope, and now that hope was crushed.

"…_Fang's DNA could reject the formula… He could die."_

What were we going to tell the Flock when the time came, when we couldn't hide it from them anymore?

None of them knew about Seth. Well, maybe Angel with her telepathic abilities, but she hadn't said anything about it so I wasn't completely sure. But there was no way I was going to pull Angel aside and say that Fang was going to die. If she already knew, then she knew, but if she didn't there was no point in bringing it up. She was only a kid, after all. No kid should have to know that kind of stuff.

Unfortunately, we lived with that kind of stuff every day.

After my initial fear came anger. Not only had they made Fang into a lab rat again, not only had they taken both him and my human half-sister from our home, but they'd had enough nerve to tell the world that they were trying to make it a better place. Never in all my fifteen-going-on-sixteen years had I heard such a stupid thing, such a phony lie. Not even from a Hollywood actor.

It made me really ticked.

What was worse, though, was that the freaking government was backing those creeps. Giving them the money they needed to do all these horrible things. And it was all in the name of "science".

I don't think I've ever hated science more.

Vaguely aware of Jeb talking, probably telling us ways to slow the progression of the formula, I stood up slowly and stalked over to the only window.

"Max?" Fang asked softly. He didn't move from his spot on the wall – I would've heard his shirt brush the wall if he had – but I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head. I couldn't look at him; I loved him, and soon he would die. It was too much.

Making one of those rash actions I'm oh-so-famous for, I yanked the window open and jumped out of it, letting myself fall.

_**Nudge's POV**_

"What about him?" I asked, pointing with a plastic fork over to where an old rich snob was checking into the hotel. He didn't look too happy; he obviously though that this place was 'beneath him'.

Spending forever and a day in the lobby of a not-too-active hotel wasn't exactly the best fun you could have in the world. Even standing around during the party at the research center we'd rescued Fang and Ella from was more exciting than this. Sure, people went and came every once in a while, but not nearly enough to keep me entertained. Angel had felt much the same way, so now she read the minds of people checking in at the counter, trying to find something interesting about each one that we could talk about. So far, though, nothing had really come up; everyone that checked in was just an Average Joe, nothing special about them worth mentioning. The most interesting person that Angel had found was a poodle breeder from southern Michigan.

Like I said, no one special.

Angel shook her head. "He's just thinking about how dumb it is that the boss is making him stay in this hotel," she said. "He wanted to stay at the five-star luxury hotel down the street, but his boss is trying to cut costs by putting his employees in cheaper hotels when they travel. He doesn't like the idea at all."

It definitely seemed that way. When he grabbed the keys to his room, he sneered at the young woman behind the counter before stomping over to the elevator and catching a ride up to the sixth floor. The young woman watched after him, an eyebrow raised and inquiring look on her face.

"What was that all about?" I could almost imagine her asking. Of course, she was an employee here, so she might get in trouble for asking questions like that. Some bosses are just really picky that way, making sure their employees stay unquestioning and friendly all the time and under all circumstances. Even with rude jerks like that.

I would probably never be able to keep a job. Then again, who would hire a mutated freak of nature that had wings grafted into her back?

Not many, that's for sure.

_**Max's POV**_

The drop was only a couple of stories, nothing big to get my adrenaline pumping, yet it was enough to just let me relax for a couple seconds before going splat. Just freefalling had always given me a sense of detachment, like I wasn't connected to the world anymore. Sometimes, like now, that detachment was exactly what I needed.

Only a couple of yards above the ground, I snapped open my wings and shot upward, passing Jeb's window. Though I didn't look inside, I heard a small _whoosh_ a second later; I knew Fang had taken off from the window, probably chasing after me.

I didn't want to have to face him about all of this, so I pushed myself into warp speed.

The landscape was a blur beneath me, the trees and roads and houses and rivers all seeming to blend together. If I had really stopped to look at it, it might have been beautiful. But I wasn't planning on slowing down, even though I had no destination. I figured I'd find a nice cave somewhere, cry off all my anger and sorrows, and then return to the Flock like nothing had happened. As a leader, I had to be strong. But at the same time, I was just a fifteen-year-old girl. I was entitled to cry every once in a while. I just couldn't do it in front of the people who looked up to me and followed my orders every single day. It just didn't seem leader-like, you know?

By the time I was over Vermont, half an hour later, I decided that I'd been flying long enough. Tucking in my wings, I did a spiral dive toward a depression on the side of one of the countryside's many mountains. There was snow on the ground, and I was careful not to get a lot of it on my pants when I landed. The snow would melt and then refreeze, literally freezing my pants to my legs and probably making me get hypothermia. I didn't know if I could go into warp speed when I was that sick, and I wasn't planning on testing it out now. There was plenty of time for that later.

The cave was small, but it was dry, and right now that was more important. I hunkered down in the back, my wings pressed up against the cool rock surface, my knees pulled up against my chest and my chin resting on them. From someone to my left, a continuous dripping sound gave the cave an eerie feel, and somewhere above me an owl took off, soaring out of the cave on silent golden wings. It was still daylight, so I figured that it was looking for someone else to sleep now that I had occupied its cave.

I sat there for a while, just thinking about everything that had happened. I thought of how happy I had been only a couple weeks ago at my mom's house, giving Ella her karaoke machine. Now, Ella was lying in a hospital bed thousands of miles away from her home, probably bored to death. Two weeks ago, Fang and I had officially gotten together and gone on our first date. I remember how nervous I had been, how kind of awkward it was to talk about it with the rest of the Flock.

Now I realize that those feelings of awkwardness and nervousness were childish. I'd taken my safety for granted back then; I would never do so again. Even if, by some miracle, we did defeat the new form of Itex, I would never let my guard down again. It's cost me more than I would like to imagine, more than I can think about without getting all emotional.

I must've been sitting there for a little over an hour, contemplating everything that had happened in the last couple of weeks and cherishing the alone time, when I heard a scuffling toward the front of the cave. I pulled my wings in as tight as I could and carefully stood, grabbing a rock in my left hand and holding it behind my back like a concealed weapon. Like I said before, I would never let my guard down again.

"Who's there?" I challenged, gripping the rock hard enough that my knuckles turned white. I wasn't going to let anyone try to take me back to Itex and stick me in a cage; my days in cages and crates were over.

"It's just me." A tall, gangly shadow detached from the others, walking toward me slowly. The sun outside shone on dark features: olive skin, dark eyes, black hair.

"Fang? How'd-"

"I have your blood from the transfusion, remember? I can fly just as fast as you can, Max. It just took me a while to explore every cave in this patch of mountains before I found yours." He shrugged nonchalantly. "I was right on your tail the whole time."

"Maybe I should put a tracker on your ankle or something," I joked. "That way, whenever you're in a fifteen mile radius, I know to turn tail and head the other way."

"Funny. Now, why'd you just go running off like that? Jeb's worried about you, you know. And as soon as your mom is done visiting Ella, he's going to tell her and she's going to go into hysterics."

"Not my problem."

"Of course it's your problem. She's your mom, and she worries about you." He cocked his head to the side, like he was evaluating something. Then his eyes softened a little. "I worry about you too, you know. You can't just go flying off without telling someone where you're going."

"I can take care of myself."

"That's not the point. The point is that people who care about you also worry about you, and if you go running off you're going to give them a heart attack. There are seven very concerned people back in Boston, waiting for you to come back."

"Yeah, well, they can wait a little longer," I said stubbornly. "I just need to be alone for a while."

"Is that it? Just alone time?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact. It's just, I have so much going on right now. There's the whole 'Itex coming back' thing, then there's the whole Seth drama. Then there are the woes of just being an average fifteen-year-old girl. It gets to you after a while, Fang."

He was silent, and we stared at each other. That was one of the longest conversations we'd ever carried out, and it did seem like he was genuinely concerned. I was surprised that he still had my ability even after the red blood cells that I'd donated to him had died. I guess his other cells had mutated to include my warp speed.

That's when it struck me. Jeb had said that the scientists at Itex had transplanted the enhancers right into Fang's bone marrow. I remembered a documentary on the human blood that I'd seen on the Discovery Channel once; a distinct fact that I could easily recall from that documentary was that red blood cells, the most common cell in the blood system, was formed in bone marrow.

So that's how they did it. They put the enhancers straight into the marrow so that the red blood cells would include the enhancements when they were produced, spreading the mutation throughout the body and eventually changing Fang's entire DNA pattern. It was clever, really, and somewhat genius, though I would never admit that to the scientist that came up with the idea. But it was dangerous; as Jeb had said, Fang's entire DNA could unravel because of the unnatural changes in the pattern. Yet at the same time, there was a very, very slim chance that his blood would accept the changes and naturally mutate to accommodate them. Though it wasn't much, it was still a sliver of hope.

A sliver of hope… the one little sliver that turned my day from depressing to optimistic.

I threw myself at Fang, grabbing him and giving him a tight bear hug. He looked down at me, one eyebrow raised in an "Okay, this is weird…" kind of gesture.

"There's still hope," I whispered into his shirt, and I began to cry. But the tears that flowed from my eyes were not tears of rage, or pain, or sorrow…

They were tears of joy.

* * *

**I love writing fics like this; they can go anywhere, at anytime, pretty much no matter how you write previous parts of the plot. Will Fang die? Will he survive? That's up to me! Muahahahahahaha!**

**Oh, and you have Clint Mansell to thank for this chapter. Listening to his song "Lux Aeterna", which is just a no-word composition by an orchestra, really got me in the mood to write this and helped motivate me to stay up till 1:30 am finishing it. Thanks Mr. Mansell! Your music rocks!**

**I don't even know why I ask, but please review. I love to see that I have 30,000 messages in my inbox, so please be nice and give me reviews. But no flames; they make me curl up in a corner and rock back and forth. Okay, not really, but you get the idea.**


	28. Perverted Minds

**IMPORTANT**

**I know that I have been absent from the site for about a month now, and that I promised more updates during summer. It looks like that isn't going to happen, because I spend most of my summer at my dad's house and I don't get internet there.**

**But what I want to talk about today is this chapter. I want to warn you ahead of time that it's probably the worst writing so far. That's because I didn't put my heart and soul into this piece of writing like I do with all my others. That's because something happened to me today that will probably keep from from doing another update for a while.**

**This morning, my grandfather had a heart attack. He lost conciousness in his home, and by the time he arrived at the hospital after ERT care his heart rate was only 40 beats per minute, 2/3 of what it should've been.**

**All day, my heart hasn't been in anything I've done, and I can't seem to focus on anything. That's because every part of me is hoping that my Grandpap will be okay. Tomorrow he's going into surgery and getting a pacemaker to regulate his heart again. And my father and I are going there, at the hospital, to support him and my grandmother.**

**So, please, if you don't like this chapter, don't flame me. I'm going through a difficult time as it is, and I don't need to be disappointed by the readers' remarks. If you don't like the writing, keep it to yourself.**

**Thank you, my friends. May you like at least a little of what you read.**

* * *

We took our good old time getting back to Boston. Not feeling like going into warp speed, Fang and I cruised on the warm drafts, wings flapping only when necessary. It was a great way to get your mind off things, but it was even better for contemplating stuff. In this case, I was contemplating.

Vermont was a huge expanse of dead trees, snow, and mountains packed with skiers. As we soared above a skiing lodge, high enough that we would just look like large birds to the tourists below, I thought about how a month ago we'd probably be down there as tourists ourselves, testing out the mountainside and having fun in the snow. Who knew if we'd ever the chance to do those kinds of things again?

The trip that took only half an hour at warp speed took almost two and a half hours at normal speed. It was close to afternoon when we landed on the roof of the hotel in Boston; I almost ran over the side because I had so much momentum, and I lost most of the distance for a proper landing because I landed in the middle of the roof instead of toward the side. Fang grabbed the back of my shirt before I could fall off, yanking me back and almost making me fall on my butt instead.

Okay, so I'm a total klutz sometimes.

"Thanks," I muttered, dusting off my pants embarrassedly. Unfortunately for me, there wasn't really any dirt to dust off, so I probably looked like an idiot.

Fang obviously thought so, because he smirked. "Don't mention it."

"So… Do you think the others noticed that we left?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Either they think we slept in _really_ late, or Jeb told them."

"Or they figured it out on their own."

"Good point."

We found the door to the staircase and slipped through. Luckily, there wasn't anyone else on the stairs, so we were able to fly down them like the freakishly fast little mutants we are.

When we got to our floor, Gazzy, Nudge, Angel, and Iggy weren't in their rooms Naturally, I started to worry right away.

"Where did they go?" I wondered aloud as I shut the door to Iggy and Gazzy's room.

"I don't know," Fang said, shaking his bangs out of his eyes. "They have to be somewhere in the hotel."

"What if they got kidnapped?"

He snorted. "Come on, Max. The hotel would be in a frenzy if a pack of wolf-men stormed the place and kidnapped four innocent kids."

I couldn't argue with that. "So where do you think they are?"

The corner of Fang's lips twitched into a smile. "Where do you think the food is?"

-----

It only took us five minutes to get from our floor down to the lobby, and when we got there it wasn't hard to find the rest of the Flock. There was almost no activity, and four tall bird kids aren't hard to spot even in a crowded room.

They saw us about two milliseconds after we saw them. Nudge practically jumped out of her chair, and she almost tripped coming over to us. Ig, Gazzy, and Angel weren't in such a rush.

"Where were you guys?" Nudge demanded. "We've been waiting here for hours!"

"Sorry," I said. "We went to talk to Jeb, then we got a little sidetracked."

Her eyebrow rose. "Oh?"

It took me a couple seconds until I got the meaning behind the word, and I almost gagged. "Eew, Nudge, not like that! We just went for a fly."

"For over three hours?"

"Yeah."

She looked ready to argue, but after throwing her "the bird" she shut up. Nudge is a nice kid and all, but sometimes I just want to strangle her. And when did her mind get so nasty?

"So, you two weren't being naughty?" Iggy asked. Fang scowled at him, and after remembering that the look was lost he punched him in the kidney. He must've done it hard too, 'cause Iggy let out a small _oof_ and said, "What was that for?"

"_That_ was for having a perverted mind," Fang said, crossing his arms.

"Okay, drop the subject guys," I said. "There are children present."

"Like you aren't a kid," Gazzy muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

"I thought so." I looked around the lobby, scanning for any threats. "So, what do you think we should do today?"

"I don't know. Maybe visit Ella?" Iggy said hopefully.

Do I really need to say where we stayed for the rest of the day?

-----

When we got back from the hospital, it was raining. A thick layer of drizzle coated Boston, and the lights from storefronts and house windows shone yellow through the rain. Statues of Paul Revere and other Revolutionary heroes were turned darker from the water reacting with the paint, and small puddles formed on the concrete sidewalks.

"I hate rain," Nudge said, shaking moisture out of her thick hair. "It's way too wet."

"That's why it's rain," Gazzy pointed out. "Rain is water, and water is obviously wet."

"I wish it weren't," she pouted. "When it's winter, like now, the rain freezes and makes ice. I hate ice even more than I hate water."

"So that's why you hate wet things?" Angel asked.

"Pretty much."

"Just think, Nudge," I said. "If it weren't for rain, you wouldn't be alive. You need water to live, remember?"

"I still don't like the rain. Why can't we just get the water we need from fruit and stuff?"

"How do you think the fruit gets the water?" Fang asked.

"From rain," I answered for Nudge.

She sighed in a "whatever" kind of way. "Let's drop the subject," she said.

I smirked and looked at Fang. "We win," I mouthed. He smiled a little and gave a small nod. We both loved it when we won in an argument with Nudge – after all, if she lost, she would shut up. And we all know how rare that is.

-----

The lobby was bustling when we got back. "What's going on here?" Gazzy asked, looking around at all the people.

I looked around. "Looks like the hotel's hosting some kind of business party or something," I said, pointing to a little sign above the check-in desk that said 'All Party Guests Report Here'.

Nudge's eyes glowed. "Wow, a party," she said. Then she looked at me, and I adverted my eyes.

"No, Nudge, we're not going to crash a party we weren't invited to," I said, making sure I couldn't see the Bambi eyes. "Besides, I don't think anyone under twenty-one would be invited. There's almost definitely alcohol."

"We never get to do anything fun," she muttered.

"You think a business party is fun? Trust me, half the people probably don't even want to be here." I motioned to the faces of the guests with my hand; most of them looked ready to just up and leave without even signing in.

"Whatever," Nudge said. She walked off, hands in her pockets. "I'm going to my room."

Angel took one look at me and then ran after her. I sighed and tapped Iggy on the hand. "I guess we all might as well go to our rooms," I said. Iggy nodded and gently wrapped his finger around Gazzy's belt loop as his partner in crime walked toward the elevator. I followed with Fang beside me, and as we walked I slipped my hand down to his. He gently held it, and I squeezed a little.

The room was clean when we got back, fresh rolls of toilet paper and towels in the bathroom and the sheets changed on the bed, even though they hadn't been used. I looked into the tub, where fresh miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner were on the soap shelf.

"Looks like the cleaning ladies paid a visit," Fang said, poking the new pillows that had been delivered. I nodded and dug in my pocket, finding a five-dollar bill I'd borrowed from Mom earlier for snacks that I'd forgotten to get. I laid it on the nightstand and wrote a little "thank you" to put beside it. I figured that that was the least they deserved.

"So, what are we going to do for the rest of the night?" I asked, sitting on the couch and stretching my stiff arms. "It's a little late to go touring the city."

Fang went over to the window and opened it, sticking his head out and staring down at the city. "We could always go swimming," he suggested.

"What, in the ocean? It's a little cold for that, because in case you haven't noticed, it's winter."

"Come on, I'm not totally stupid," he said. "I meant in the hotel pool. You know, the indoor one."

"We don't have swimsuits."

"There's a T.J. Max right across the street," he said, pointing. "We could get some there."

I rolled my eyes. "You're a persistent thing, aren't you?" I asked sarcastically.

He chuckled and walked over to me, kissing me softly. "I would've thought you'd learned that in the fifteen years we've known each other," he whispered against my lips. I smiled and kissed him back.

"I guess I've finally learned," I whispered back, then pulled away. "But before we go swimming, let's go for another quick fly."

I walked to the open window and drove through, wings unfurling as soon as they had enough room to do so. I went into a straightly vertical ascent on a down stroke, my hair blowing back from my face. When I was about five hundred feet above the ground, I leveled out. Behind me, Fang jumped out of the hotel room and spiraled up to meet me.

"So where are we going?" he asked above the wind.

"Does it really matter?" I asked back.

"I guess not."

"Good, because I have no idea," I said, turning south.

* * *

**Abrupt ending, I know. I couldn't think of a good one for this chapter. As I said in the AN above, my mind has a hard time focusing on these kinds of things. So don't flame me if you didn't like the chapter. Keep nasty comments to yourself. The only reviews welcomed right now are positive ones or ones with words of encouragement.**


	29. Author's Note

**I'm updating from the hospital. Just thought everyone should know that my concern was not needed - we just got a call from the doctor, and my grandfather's pacemaker surgery has been a success. He made it through without a problem, and we're waiting now to see him. My grandmother, father, and I are in the waiting room right now, and my aunts and their families are coming soon. Our family must be a nightmare for the doctors, because it's pretty large and everyone comes together when someone is in the hospital. **

**Just posting this so those who prayed for him know that your prayers were not in vain. Thank you for sparing a thought for my grandfather, even though you have not and never will know him. **

**~Chet**


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